CHARLESTON BUDDHIST FELLOWSHIP

The
Dhammapada

The Path of the Dhamma

A New Rendering by
Allan R. Bomhard

Intermediate Series (Scripture)

 The
Dhammapada
The Path of the Dhamma

A NEW RENDERING BY
Allan R. Bomhard

Cඁൺඋඅൾඌඍඈඇ Bඎൽൽඁංඌඍ Fൾඅඅඈඐඌඁංඉ

Charleston, SC USA

2013 (2557)
This rendering of the Dhammapada was originally completed in October 2007.

In April and May 2008, the entire work was carefully reexamined, and numerous
corrections, especially of typographical and punctuation errors, were made. At the same
time, refinements were made to the translation of individual verses.

Additional corrections were made in November and December 2011 and in March 2013.

The doctrinal positions expressed in this book are based

upon the original teachings (aggavāda) of the Buddha.

The Charleston Buddhist Fellowship edition of this work is intended exclusively for use
in private study and is not intended for publication or resale. It is printed for free
distribution and may be copied or reprinted for free distribution, in total or in part,
without written permission.
 Table of Contents

Foreword ……………………………………………………………………….. i
Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………. iii

1. Twin Verses …………………………………………………………………….. 1

2. Vigilance ………………………………………………………………………... 5
3. The Mind ………………………………………………………………………... 7
4. Flowers …………………………………………………………………………. 9
5. The Immature …………………………………………………………………… 11
6. The Wise ………………………………………………………………………... 15
7. The Arahat ……………………………………………………………………… 19
8. Thousands ………………………………………………………………………. 21
9. Evil ……………………………………………………………………………… 23
10. Punishment ……………………………………………………………………… 25
11. Old Age …………………………………………………………………………. 27
12. The Self …………………………………………………………………………. 29
13. The World ………………………………………………………………………. 31
14. The Awakened One …………………………………………………………….. 33
15. Happiness ………………………………………………………………………. 37
16. Pleasures ……………………………………………………………………….. 39
17. Anger …………………………………………………………………………… 41
18. Impurities ………………………………………………………………………. 43
19. Established in Dhamma ………………………………………………………… 47
20. The Path ………………………………………………………………………… 49
21. Varied Verses …………………………………………………………………… 53
22. The Downward Course …………………………………………………………. 57
23. The Elephant ……………………………………………………………………. 59
24. Craving …………………………………………………………………………. 61
25. The Bhikkhu …………………………………………………………………….. 65
26. The Brāhmaṇa ………………………………………………………………….. 69
 Foreword
The Dhammapada, “The Path of the Dhamma,” is so well known that it almost
needs no introduction. It is by far the most widely translated Buddhist text. Therefore, I
will keep my remarks to a minimum.
The Dhammapada is the second book of the Khuddaka Nikāya, which is, itself,
the fifth and last collection (nikāya) of the Sutta Piṭaka. The Dhammapada consists of
423 verses spoken by the Buddha on various occasions. These verses are arranged
according to topic into 26 chapters. Though most of the verses were spoken to Bhikkhus,
they are, nonetheless, of universal applicability. Indeed, they provide an incomparable
guide on how to live a noble, rewarding, and useful life.
In addition to the text of The Dhammapada, there also exist the stories of the
events that prompted the Buddha to utter these verses as well as commentaries on the
individual verses. The stories provide the context. The Commentary contains much
useful material and, in some cases, provides the only means to understand the underlying
meaning of the point that the Buddha was trying to get across.
I had several goals in mind when I undertook the task of preparing yet another
translation of The Dhammapada. The first was to prepare a version that was doctrinally
accurate, that is, fully in accord with the doctrinal positions of Theravādin Buddhism.
The second was to reduce sexist language as much as possible. The third and final goal
was to render the verses into English that was fresh, alive, and easy to understand, and
that would appeal to a modern reader. Consulting the Commentary made the first goal
easy to achieve. Much of the commentarial material is included in the footnotes that
accompany each chapter. In a number of cases, I followed the common practice of
incorporating the commentarial material into the translation itself, especially when a
word-for-word translation would have been incomprehensible by itself. The second goal
required careful wording. I used two devices to reduce sexist language: (1) I used plural
pronouns and (2) I used indefinite pronouns. In those cases where it was obviously males
who were being spoken to or spoken about, I made no changes. As for the final goal, I
will let the readers judge for themselves whether I have succeeded.
As a final check on the accuracy of my translation, I compared it against several
other popular translations. ■

ALLAN R. BOMHARD
Charleston, SC
October 2007

i
 Bibliography
Anuruddha, Ācariya. 2000. A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma. The
Abhidhammattha Sangaha: Pāḷi Text, Translation, and Explanatory Guide.
Bhikkhu Bodhi, General Editor. Seattle, WA: BPS Pariyatti Editions.
Bodhi, Bhikkhu (editor). 2005. In the Buddha’s Words: An Anthology of Discourses
from the Pāḷi Canon. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications.
Bodhi, Bhikkhu (translator). 2000. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha. A New
Translation of the Saṁyutta Nikāya. Two volumes. Boston, MA: Wisdom
Publications.
Bodhi, Bhikkhu (translator). 2012. The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha. A New
Translation of the Aṅguttara Nikāya. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications.
Buddhaghosa, Bhadantācariya. 1999. Visuddhimagga. The Path of Purification.
Translated by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli. Seattle, WA: BPS Pariyatti Editions.
Burlingame, Eugene Watson (translator). 1979. Buddhist Legends. Translated from the
original Pāḷi Text of the Dhammapada Commentary. Three volumes. London:
Pāḷi Text Society.
Carter, John Ross, and Mahinda Palihawadana (translators). 1987. The Dhammapada.
Edited by Jaroslav Pelikan. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Daw Mya Tin (translator). 1986. The Dhammapada: Verses & Stories. Edited by the
Editorial Committee of the Burma Piṭaka Association. Rangoon, Burma: Burma
Piṭaka Association. This is an extremely accurate translation from a doctrinal
point of view.
Easwaran, Eknath (translator). 1985. The Dhammapada. Petaluma, CA: Nilgiri Press.
Easwaran, Eknath (translator). 2007. The Dhammapada. 2nd edition. Petaluma, CA:
Nilgiri Press. This is a revised translation.
Feldmeier, Peter. 2013. Dhammapada: The Way of the Truth. A Fresh Translation and
Commentary on Buddhism’s Most Beloved Text. Kandy, Śri Lanka: Buddhist
Publication Society.
Horner, I. B. (translator). 1990. Milinda’s Questions. Two volumes. London: Pāḷi Text
Society.
Nārada Mahāthera (translator). 1954. The Dhammapada. London: John Murray.
Reissued by Tuttle 1993.
Nārada Mahāthera (translator). 1978. The Dhammapada. Kuala Lumpur: Buddhist
Missionary Society. This and the preceding book are actually two different
translations. Both are considered very accurate from a doctrinal perspective.
Nārada Mahāthera. 1988. The Buddha and His Teachings. 4th edition. Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia: Buddhist Missionary Society.
Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu. 1992. The Life of the Buddha according to the Pāḷi Canon. 3rd
edition. Kandy, Śri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society. Reprinted in 2001 by
BPS Pariyatti Editions (Seattle, WA).
iv THE DHAMMAPADA

Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu, and Bhikkhu Bodhi (translators). 1995. The Middle Length
Discourses of the Buddha. A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya. Boston,
MA: Wisdom Publications.
Nyanaponika Thera and Bhikkhu Bodhi (translators). 1999. Numerical Discourses of
the Buddha: An Anthology of Suttas from the Aṅguttara Nikāya. Lanham, MD:
Altamira Press.
Nyanatiloka. 1980. Buddhist Dictionary. Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines. 4th
revised edition. Kandy, Śri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society.
Rahula, Walpola. 1974. What the Buddha Taught. 2nd edition. New York, NY: Grove
Press, Inc. The last chapter of this book, Selected Texts, contains, along with
several other works, excerpts from The Dhammapada.
Saddhatissa, Hammalawa (translator). 1985. The Sutta-Nipāta. London: Curzon Press.
Walshe, Maurice (translator). 1995. The Long Discourses of the Buddha. Boston, MA:
Wisdom Publications. Originally published in 1987 under the title Thus Have I
Heard: The Long Discourses of the Buddha. A New Translation of the Dīgha-
Nikāya. ■
 1 • Twin Verses
(Yamakavagga)

1. All mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner;1 they have mind as their
chief; they are mind-made.2 If one speaks or acts with evil intentions, suffering3
will follow, just as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that pull it along.

2. All mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner; they have mind as their chief;
they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with pure intentions, happiness will
follow, like a shadow that never leaves one’s side.

3. “He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me,4 he robbed me” — those who dwell on
such thoughts will never become free from hatred.

4. “He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me” — those who do not
dwell on such thoughts will truly become free from hatred.

5. Returning hatred with hatred will never bring hatred to an end in this world; only by
replacing hatred with love will hatred come to an end. This is an ancient and
eternal law.5

6. People6 do not understand that quarrelsome behavior leads only to self-destruction;

for those who realize this,7 quarrels quickly come to an end.8

1
All mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner in the sense that mind is the most dominant and is
the cause of the other three mental phenomena: (1) feeling (vedanā); (2) perception (saññā); and (3)
predisposing mental formations or mental concomitants (saṁkhārā). These three have mind or conscious-
ness (viññāṇa) as their precursor because, although they arise simultaneously with mind, they cannot arise
if mind does not arise.
2
“Mind as their chief,” “mind-made” here means intention or volition (cetanā). In those who are deluded
worldlings, volition leads to the performance of volitional actions, both good and evil. This volition and
the resultant actions constitute kamma, and kamma always follows one to produce results (vipāka). A more
colloquial translation of the opening lines of the first two verses might be: “Mind is the starting point in
shaping who we are — as we think, so we become.”
3
Physical or mental pain, misfortune, unsatisfactoriness, evil consequences, etc., and rebirth in lower
planes of existence or in the lower strata of society if reborn in the human world.
4
“[H]e defeated me” means that he got the better of me by bearing false witness, by argumentation and
cross talk, or by retaliatory acts.
5
An ancient principle followed by the Buddhas and their disciples. The meaning is not to return hatred by
more hatred but to conquer it through loving-kindness (absence of hatred).
6
Here, “people” refers to those who are not wise. Because they forget that death awaits them, they behave
as though they were never going to die and keep on quarrelling. Therefore, they are sometimes referred to
as “the ignorant” or “the foolish.”
7
The wise understand (or realize) that all are mortal, that all must die.
2 THE DHAMMAPADA

7. Just as a strong wind uproots a weak tree, so, whoever lives strictly for pleasure,
who exercises no restraint over the senses, who eats to excess, who is lazy, who is
inactive, such a one is easily overpowered by Māra — the Tempter, the Evil One.9

8. Just as the wind cannot blow away a rocky mountain, so, whoever does not live
strictly for pleasure, who exercises restraint over the senses, who does not eat to
excess, who is full of faith,10 who disciplines the will, such a one is not
overpowered by Māra.

9. Though one may put on the saffron-colored robe,11 if one has not removed
impurities from the mind, if one is lacking in self-discipline and truthfulness, then
such a one is not worthy of wearing the saffron-colored robe.

10. Whoever has purified the mind, who is firmly established in moral behavior,12 who
possesses self-discipline and truthfulness, that one is indeed worthy of wearing the
saffron-colored robe.

11. Those who imagine trivial things to be important or important things to be trivial
are blinded by such wrong views and will never realize what is truly essential to
living the Holy Life.

12. Those who have correctly understood what is trivial and what is important are not
blinded by wrong views and have realized what is truly essential to living the Holy
Life.

13. Just as rain seeps through an ill-thatched roof, so does lust13 seep through an
ill-trained mind.14

14. Just as rain cannot seep through a well-thatched roof, so can lust not seep through a
well-trained mind.

15. Perceiving the results of past wrong actions, those who have done evil suffer —
those who have done evil are afflicted; indeed, they suffer here and now, even after
death they suffer — they suffer in both places.

8
This verse was uttered by the Buddha in connection with a quarrel that arose between two parties of
Bhikkhus.
9
The term Māra is used here in the sense of defilements hindering the realization of nibbāna. A more
colloquial translation might be: “…such a one is easily overpowered by the slightest temptation.”
10
Unshakable faith in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha as well as faith or belief in kamma and its
results.
11
The yellow or reddish robe worn by members of the Buddhist monastic Order.
12
Who has discarded all moral defilements by means of the four Path Knowledges.
13
Not only lust, but all defilements, such as ill will, lack of mindfulness, conceit, etc.
14
A mind not cultivated in calm abiding and insight meditation.
 1. TWIN VERSES 3

16. Perceiving the results of past wholesome actions, those who have done good deeds
rejoice, they rejoice exceedingly; indeed, they rejoice here and now, even after
death they rejoice — they rejoice in both places.

17. Those who have done evil suffer here and now, even after death they suffer — the
evildoers suffer in both places. Realizing the results of the wrong they have done,
the evildoers suffer; and still more suffering awaits them in the next life.

18. Those who have done good15 are happy here and now, even after death they are
happy — those who have done good are happy in both places. Realizing the results
of the good they have done, they are happy; and still more happiness awaits them in
the next life.

19. Though one may be well-versed in the scriptures16 and be able to recite them from
beginning to end, if one does not put into practice their teachings, then such a
heedless one may be likened to a cowherd who counts someone else’s cattle — that
one will gain none of the benefits of living the Holy Life.

20. Though one may know little of the scriptures, if one nonetheless puts into practice
their teachings, forsaking lust, hatred, and false views, truly knowing, with a
disciplined mind, clinging to nothing either in this life or the next, then that one will
surely gain the benefits of living the Holy Life. ■

15
Meritorious deeds.
16
This signifies the words of the Buddha preserved in the three piṭakas.
 2 • Vigilance
(Appamādavagga)

21. Vigilance17 is the way to the deathless.18 Those who lack vigilance cannot escape
death.19 Those who are vigilant will go beyond death; those who are not vigilant
are as if already dead.20

22. The wise fully understand this. They rejoice in being vigilant and find delight in
the wisdom of the Noble Ones.21

23. Meditating22 earnestly and striving for nibbāna, the wise attain the highest joy and
freedom.23

24. If one is energetic, mindful, and pure in thought, word, and deed, and, if one does
everything with care and consideration, restraining the senses, and earning a living
in accordance with the Dhamma, then the fame and fortune of such a one will
steadily increase.

25. Through diligence, mindfulness, discipline (with regard to the moral precepts), and
control of the senses, let those who are wise make an island24 of themselves which
no flood25 can overwhelm.

26. The immature26 lose their vigilance, but the wise guard it as their greatest treasure.

17
Appamāda, “zeal, earnestness, diligence, thoughtfulness, watchfulness, vigilance, conscientiousness,
heedfulness, non-laxity,” is considered to be the foundation of all progress.
18
“Deathless” does not mean eternal life or immortality here. Rather, it means nibbāna.
19
One who is not diligent cannot be liberated from rebirth; when reborn, one must grow old and die.
Hence, lack of diligence is the cause of death.
20
Those who are not diligent are like the dead, because they never think of giving in charity, or keeping the
moral precepts, etc., and, in the case of Bhikkhus, because they do not fulfill their duties to their teachers
and preceptors, nor do they cultivate calm abiding and insight meditation.
21
Here, Ariyas “Noble Ones” means the pure ones like Buddhas and Arahats.
22
In this verse, meditation means both calm abiding (samatha) and insight (vipassanā).
23
Nibbāna.
24
“Island,” in this context, stands for Arahatship. Arahatship is likened to an island because it enables one
to escape from the stormy waters of the round of rebirths (saṁsāra).
25
“Flood” is used as a metaphor for the evils and passions that can overwhelm humanity.
26
Those who are spiritually immature, that is, both ignorant and ill-disciplined. The foolish and ignorant
ones mentioned in this story were hooligans who were engaged in wild revelry and disorder during a
particular festival. They were not mindful of others or of the consequences of their actions either in this
world or the next.
6 THE DHAMMAPADA

27. Therefore, do not be negligent, do not become addicted to sensory pleasures. Those
who meditate earnestly attain the highest happiness.

28. Overcoming negligence through mindfulness, the wise climb beyond suffering to
the peaks of wisdom. They look upon the suffering multitude27 as one standing on
a mountaintop looks upon the plains below.

29. Diligent among those who are negligent, awake among those who slumber, the wise
advance like a racehorse, leaving others behind.

30. It was through earnest effort28 that Magha became Sakka, lord of the gods.29 The
diligent are always respected, the negligent never.

31. A Bhikkhu who takes delight in vigilance30 and who sees danger in negligence31
advances like a fire, burning all fetters, great and small.

32. A Bhikkhu who takes delight in vigilance and who sees danger in negligence cannot
fall away.32 He is, indeed, nearing nibbāna. ■

27
Worldlings.
28
Diligence in performing meritorious deeds. In this story, Magha, a young man from Macala village, by
diligently performing the meritorious deeds of cleaning and clearing land and making roads, was reborn as
Sakka, lord of the gods.
29
Gods, or devas, are celestial beings. They are inhabitants of higher realms of existence and, as a rule, are
invisible to human beings. They are neither omnipotent nor omniscient. They are subject to ever-repeated
rebirth, old age, and death and, thus, are not freed from cyclic existence and suffering. There are many
classes of celestial beings. They are not to be confused with the gods or deities of Western religions.
30
That is, who takes delight in the practice of calm abiding and insight meditation.
31
The danger in negligence is that it leads to continued existence in the round of rebirths.
32
Cannot fall away from the practice of calm abiding and insight meditation and the benefits thereof (Path
and Fruit attainments).
 3 • The Mind
(Cittavagga)

33. The mind is excitable and unsteady; it is difficult to control33 and difficult to
restrain.34 As an archer aims an arrow, the wise straighten their restless thoughts.35

34. As a fish thrashes about in agony when it is taken out of the water and thrown onto
dry ground, the mind taken out of the world of sense pleasures36 to escape the grip
of Māra37 trembles38 all over.

35. The mind is difficult to train — it goes where it likes and does what it wants.39 It is
good to tame the mind, for a well-trained mind brings happiness.

36. The mind is very difficult to perceive — it is both delicate and extremely subtle. It
goes where it wants and settles where it wants. The wise should guard their minds,
for a guarded mind brings happiness.40

37. The mind wanders far and moves about alone; it is formless; it lies in the cave.41
Those who control their mind will be free from the bonds of Māra.

38. For those whose minds are unsteady, who are ignorant of the Dhamma, and whose
faith is wavering, their wisdom will never grow.

33
It is difficult to keep the mind fixed on a single object when meditating.
34
It is difficult to restrain the mind from drifting towards sense pleasures.
35
The wise train their excitable, unsteady mind by means of calm abiding (samatha) and insight meditation
(vipassanā).
36
When it is being trained in meditation.
37
Mental defilements.
38
The mind trembles, attached to its “home” of the fivefold strand of sensuality, being taken out of it and
subjected to the ardor of mental and physical enterprise of insight and meditational exertion for the purpose
of discarding the whirl, which is the sway of Māra — that is, it is not able to hold itself steady in that
condition. Even though this is so, the wise make the mind straight, competent in the task, in the manner
stated.
39
Moving about wherever it pleases, landing on any sense object without control.
40
It brings about the ease of the Paths, of the Fruits, and of nibbāna.
41
Guhāsayaṁ, that is, the seat of consciousness. The Buddha did not assign a specific physical location for
the seat of consciousness as he did with the other senses. It was the cardiac theory (the theory that the heart
is the seat of consciousness) that prevailed at the time, and this was evidently supported by the Upanishads.
Though the Buddha could have adopted this popular theory, he did not commit himself. In the Paṭṭhāna,
the Book of Relations, the Buddha refers to the seat of consciousness in indirect terms as “depending on
that material thing.” What that “material thing” was, the Buddha did not positively assert.
8 THE DHAMMAPADA

39. They are wise whose thoughts are steady and minds serene, whose minds are not
affected by lust and hatred, and who have abandoned both good and evil. They are
awake and free from fear.

40. Remember that this body is like a fragile clay pot. Make your mind a fortress and
conquer Māra with the weapon of wisdom. Even after defeating Māra, one should
still continue to guard one’s mind and feel no attachment to what has been gained.42

41. Remember that this body will soon lie in the earth without life, without value,
useless as a rotten log.

42. More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind
does greater harm.43

43. More than your mother, more than your father, more than all your family, a well-
disciplined mind does greater good. ■

42
In this context, not to be attached to jhāna ecstasy and serenity gained through meditative absorption, but
to proceed further with insight meditation practices until the attainment of Arahatship.
43
According to the Commentary, the mind, wrongly established in the ten kinds of evil, will cause ruin and
destruction not only in this life but also even in a hundred thousand future existences. The ten kinds of evil
are: (1) killing; (2) stealing; (3) sexual misconduct; (4) false speech; (5) slander; (6) harsh speech; (7) idle
gossip; (8) covetousness; (9) ill will; and (10) false views.
 4 • Flowers
(Pupphavagga)

44. Who will conquer this earth,44 this realm of Yama,45 and this world,46 along with the
world of the gods? As a garland-maker chooses the right flowers, choose the well-
taught Path of the Dhamma,47 and go beyond the realms of death and of the gods.

45. A disciple in training48 will conquer this earth, this realm of Yama, and this world,
along with the world of the gods. As a garland-maker chooses the right flowers,
such a disciple will choose the well-taught Path of the Dhamma and go beyond the
realms of death and of the gods.

46. One who remembers that this body is as impermanent as froth,49 as insubstantial as
a mirage,50 will break the flower-tipped arrows of Māra51 and pass beyond the sight
of the King of Death.

47. Like those who spend their lives gathering flowers, those whose minds are attached
to sense pleasures are swept away by death, just as a flood sweeps away a sleeping
village.

48. Like those who spend their lives gathering flowers, those whose minds are attached
to sense pleasures, whose desires are insatiable, are swept away by death.

44
This body.
45
The four states of woe (duggati): (1) hell; (2) the animal kingdom; (3) the Peta or hungry ghost realms;
and (4) the Asura or demon realms. Hell is not permanent according to Buddhism. It is a state of misery,
as are the Peta realm and the Asura realm, where beings suffer for their past evil actions.
46
Namely, the world of human beings and the six celestial planes. These seven are regarded as states of
bliss (sugati).
47
Dhammapada: the well-taught Path of Virtue; here, it means the thirty-seven Requisites of Enlighten-
ment (bodhipakkhiya).
48
Sekha or sekhapuggala “one who is still undergoing training.” This term is applied to disciples who have
attained any of the first three stages of holiness: (1) Stream-Winner (Sotāpanna); (2) Once-Returner
(Sakadāgāmi); and (3) Non-Returner (Anāgāmi). Those who have totally eradicated all of the passions and
attained the fruit stage of an Arahat are known as asekhas “those who have completed their training.”
49
This body, that is, the aggregate of form or corporeality, is like froth or foam in that it is powerless and
weak and does not last a long time — in other words, it is transient, fleeting, soon to perish.
50
From a distance, a mirage appears to be real, but, up close, one realizes that it is empty, hollow, and
intangible. In like manner, the body is like a mirage in the sense of passing away and reappearing at every
instant.
51
These “flower-tipped arrows of Māra” represent the tivaṭṭaṁ or the three kinds of rounds (vaṭṭaṁ): (1)
the round of moral defilements (kilesavaṭṭaṁ); (2) the round of volitional action (kammavaṭṭaṁ); and (3)
and the round of resultant effects (vipākavaṭṭaṁ).
10 THE DHAMMAPADA

49. As a bee drinks nectar and then flies away without harming the flower, so should a
Bhikkhu wander through a village.52

50. Do not give your attention to what others do or fail to do, whether they are doing
what is right or what is wrong. Rather, give your attention to what you do or fail to
do, whether you are doing what is right or what is wrong.

51. Just as a lovely flower, full of color but lacking in fragrance, cannot give anyone the
benefit of its scent, the well-spoken words of the Buddha are of no benefit to those
who do not put the Dhamma into practice.

52. Just as a lovely flower, full of both color and fragrance, will give the benefit of its
scent to all, the well-spoken words of the Buddha will benefit those who put the
Dhamma into practice.

53. Just as many garlands can be made from a heap of flowers, many good deeds can be
done in this life (through the sharing of one’s wealth with others53).

54. The scent of flowers cannot travel against the wind, nor can the scent of
sandalwood or rhododendron or jasmine; but the fragrance54 of those who do good
spreads everywhere.

55. Neither the scent of sandalwood nor rhododendron, neither the scent of lotus nor
jasmine, can come near the fragrance of those who do good.

56. Faint is the scent of sandalwood and rhododendron, but the fragrance of those who
do good rises high, even to the abode of the gods.

57. Māra55 cannot find the path56 taken by those who are endowed with virtue, who live
mindfully, and who have been freed from moral defilements by Right Knowledge.57

58–59. A true follower of the Buddha shines among blind mortals,58 as the fragrant lotus,
growing in the garbage by the roadside, brings joy to all who pass by. ■

52
Seeking alms, without inconveniencing anyone.
53
Out of faith and generosity.
54
That is, the reputation of those who do good.
55
The personification of evil.
56
Arahats, having eradicated moral defilements, are no longer subject to rebirth. So Māra, for all his
power, cannot find where such Arahats go after death.
57
Those who, having understood the nature of phenomena by perceiving cause, by inference, by reason,
have attained liberation through the fivefold release: (1) release through elimination (vikkhambhana-
vimutti); (2) release through cultivating the opposite (tadaṅga-vimutti); (3) release through cutting off
(samuccheda-vimutti); (4) release through subsidence (paṭippassaddhi-vimutti); and (5) release through
moving away (nissaraṇa-vimutti).
58
Mortals (worldlings) are like the blind because they are lacking in wisdom.
 5 • The Immature
(Bālavagga)

60. Long is the night to those who cannot sleep; long is the road to the weary. Long is
the cycle of birth and death59 to those who do not know the Dhamma.

61. If, as you travel through life, you do not find another whose understanding of the
Dhamma is either equal to or greater than your own,60 walk on alone.61 One cannot
advance by associating with those lacking wisdom.62

62. The immature63 think, “These children are mine; this wealth is mine.” They cannot
even call themselves their own, much less their children or wealth.

63. The immature who know they are immature have a little wisdom. But the immature
who look on themselves as wise are utterly foolish.

64. Those who are immature cannot understand the Dhamma even if they spend their
whole life with the wise. How can the spoon know the taste of soup?

65. If the mature64 spend even a short time with the wise, they will understand the
Dhamma, just as the tongue knows the taste of soup.

59
Saṁsāra, literally, “wandering again and again.” It is the ocean of life or existence. Saṁsāra is defined
as the unbroken flow of the stream of aggregates, elements, and sense-faculties.
60
Someone equal to or better than one in the qualities of virtue, integrity, and wisdom.
61
Coming across one’s better, one will grow in virtue, integrity, and wisdom; coming across one’s equal,
one will not degenerate; but living and sharing one’s daily life with an inferior causes one to degenerate in
virtue and the like.
62
Out of compassion (karuṇā), to work for their betterment, one may associate with them. In other words,
if it is possible to help such people grow in virtue, integrity, and wisdom without expecting anything from
them in return, then one may associate with them. But, if it is not possible to help them, one should be
firmly set on being by oneself and living by oneself in every mode of deportment.
63
Bāla — this is often translated as “fools” or “the foolish,” sometimes even as “childish persons.” It is the
opposite of paṇḍita “(the) wise” and refers to those who are ignorant, stupid, and mentally dull. Here, it is
translated as “the immature.” Fools are not likely to change their behavior, while someone who is simply
immature, given time and experience, can always learn and grow. They are spiritually immature inasmuch
as they do not know what is good for this world and the world beyond, they are not able to put an end to the
whirl of saṁsāra, and they do not know the noble Dhamma of the Buddha. Due to ignorance (avijjā), they
act foolishly, creating fresh kamma, leading to repeated rebirth in cyclic existence.
64
If one associates with a wise person even for a short time, then such a one, learning from the wise person
and inquiring, will come, little by little, to understand the Dhamma. Thereafter, through deepening one’s
knowledge and putting what one has learned into practice, striving on with diligence, one will advance like
a racehorse and will, inevitably, transcend the world.
12 THE DHAMMAPADA

66. The immature65 are their own enemies, doing selfish deeds which will bring them
sorrow.

67. That deed is poorly done66 if one feels remorse for having done it and if it brings
suffering in its wake.

68. But good is that deed which brings no remorse, only happiness, in its wake.

69. As long as the evil deed does not bear fruit, the immature think it is sweet like
honey.67 But when the evil deed ripens, they suffer.

70. Even if the immature fast month after month, taking food sparingly with only the tip
of a blade of grass, they are not worth a sixteenth part of those who truly understand
the Dhamma.68

71. As fresh milk69 needs time to curdle, an evil deed needs time to bear its fruit. It
follows the immature, eventually burning them, like fire smoldering under the ashes.

72. Even if they pick up a little knowledge, the immature misuse it and break their
heads70 instead of benefiting from it.

73. The immature Bhikkhus desire praise for qualities they do not have, preeminence
among fellow monks,71 authority in the monasteries,72 and veneration from those
not related to them.73

74. “Listen, monks and householders, I can do this; I can do that. I am right, and you
are wrong. Obey me.” Fools, thinking thus, only increase their desires and pride.

65
Those of little intelligence, those who are ignorant.
66
Having done a deed that can produce rebirth in states of woe, and so on, whose outcome is painful,
remembering which one feels regret and grieves at the very instant of remembrance — that is, a deed which
is not good, not admirable, not gainful.
67
To those who are doing a bad (pāpa), unwholesome (akusala) deed, the deed appears desirable, pleasant,
and attractive, like honey, like a sweet drink. Hence, they regard it as if it were sweet like honey.
68
The Noble Ones — those who have attained one of the four stages of holiness.
69
Warm milk that has just been drawn from a cow’s udder.
70
Here, “head” means “wisdom.” The meaning is that their wisdom and merit are brought down, ruined,
destroyed.
71
Such Bhikkhus desire to have a following of other Bhikkhus, thinking: “Would that the Bhikkhus in the
entire monastery surround me and go about with me asking me questions.”
72
From among the dwellings that belong as common property to the Order, assigning the more comfortable
lodging places at the center of the monastery to Bhikkhus who are their friends and companions, and
reserving the best for themselves, while assigning the least desirable lodgings, those that are farthest away,
that are soiled, that are imperiled by vermin, to visiting Bhikkhus or to Bhikkhus who are not their friends
and companions.
73
They wish for reverential gifts of the four kinds of requisites not only from their parents and relatives but
also from those not related to them, thinking: “Would that they give only to me and to no one else!”
 5. THE IMMATURE 13

75. One path leads to worldly gain and pleasure, another to nibbāna. Fully realizing
this, do not, O disciples of the Buddha, take delight in worldly gain and honor, but
devote yourselves instead to solitude, detachment, and the realization of nibbāna. ■
 6 • The Wise
(Paṇḍitavagga)

76. If you find someone wise,74 who can steer you away from the wrong path,75 follow
that person as you would one who can reveal hidden treasures. Only good76 can
come from following such a person.

77. Those who are wise should admonish others; they should give advice77 to others;
and they should prevent others from doing what is wrong.78 Ones such as these are
held dear by the good; they are disliked only by the bad.

78. Make friends with those who are good and worthy, not with those who are bad and
low.79

79. Those who imbibe80 the Dhamma live in joy with a serene mind.81 The wise take
delight in the Dhamma82 expounded by the Noble Ones.83

80. As irrigators channel water where they want, as archers make their arrows straight,
as carpenters fashion timber,84 the wise shape their minds.85

74
One who is endowed with insight, one who knows and practices the Dhamma.
75
That is, a wise person who, out of compassion, respectfully points out your faults in order to make you
understand what you have not properly understood, with a desire to increase your virtues, and so forth.
Such a one is concerned only with your development, your welfare, your happiness.
76
There will be growth, not decay (of wisdom).
77
They should give advice in advance, and they should give advice repeatedly.
78
One admonishes or counsels others concerning matters that have already taken place; one advises others
concerning matters that have not yet taken place; and one prevents or restrains others from doing, thinking,
or speaking that which is of an unwholesome nature and also establishes others in doing, thinking, and
speaking that which is of a wholesome nature.
79
Bad or evil friends are those who are attached to unwholesome deeds, such as physical misconduct. Low
friends are those who try to persuade one to perform one or more of the twenty-one kinds of wrong-doing
(dukkata). Those who have opposite qualities are good friends and worthy friends. One should only make
friends with those who are good and worthy.
80
Contacting with body the ninefold Dhamma that transcends the world, realizing as object, penetratively
seeing the Four Noble Truths by means of comprehension, and so forth, through full knowledge — that is
how one “imbibes” the Dhamma.
81
Not befuddled, free of defilements.
82
Dhamma which is conducive to Enlightenment in its many varieties, such as making awareness firm, and
which has been expounded by Noble Ones, such as the Buddhas.
83
Ariya “Noble One” indicates nobility of character. It is typically applied to Buddhas as well as to those
who have attained one of the four stages of holiness. Here, it refers to Buddhas and Arahats.
84
Carpenters fashion timber into things that people need or want by cutting, sawing, planing, carving, etc.
16 THE DHAMMAPADA

81. As a solid rock cannot be moved by the wind, the wise are not shaken86 by praise or
blame.87

82. When the wise listen to the words of the Dhamma, their minds become calm and
clear, like the waters of a still lake.88

83. Those who are virtuous surrender all.89 They do not engage in idle chatter, nor do
they hanker for sense pleasures.90 They are the same in good fortune and in bad.91

84. If one desires neither children nor wealth nor power nor success by unfair means,
either for one’s own sake or for the sake of others,92 know such a one to be good,
wise, and virtuous.

85. Few are those who reach the other shore;93 most people keep running up and down
this shore.94

86. But those who follow the Dhamma, when it has been well taught, will reach the
other shore, hard to reach, beyond the power of death.

87–88. Those who are wise, leaving craving behind and having nibbāna as their goal,
should abandon evil ways95 and cultivate pure, good ones.96 They should seek
delight in solitude, detachment, and nibbāna, which an ordinary person finds so

85
In the same way, the wise develop the Paths such as Stream Entry and thus tame their minds. When
Arahatship is attained, their minds have become perfectly tamed.
86
Not perturbed or bothered.
87
When they are confronted by the eight worldly conditions, the wise are neither attracted nor repulsed,
neither happy nor sad, neither elated nor depressed. To them, things and events simply are what they are,
no more, no less. The eight worldly conditions are: (1) gain (lābha) and (2) loss (alābha); (3) fame (yasa)
and (4) infamy or ill-repute (ayasa); (5) praise (paraṁsā) and (6) blame (nindā); and (7) happiness (sukha)
and (8) pain (dukkha).
88
Just as a lake is clear because it is free from impurities and undisturbed when it is motionless, the wise,
having heard the Dhamma and having attained an undefiled mind by way of the Path of Stream-Entry and
the rest, become calm. After having attained Arahatship, they are perfectly calm.
89
Attachment to the five aggregates of existence, etc.
90
They do not chatter for their own part, nor do they get others to chatter, for the sake of sense pleasures,
for reasons of politeness, to make small talk, etc. The virtuous do neither of these things.
91
The wise do not manifest either high or low (elation or depression), either in the form of being pleased or
displeased or in the form of expressing the satisfactory or unsatisfactory nature of events.
92
Those who are wise will not commit a detrimental act, either for their own sake or for the sake of others.
93
Nibbāna.
94
That is, they cling to the five aggregates of existence.
95
Physical misconduct, and so forth.
96
Wise Bhikkhus should develop the bright Dhamma, in all its varieties, such as physical good conduct, and
so forth, from the time of going forth into the Holy Life (brahmacariya) up until reaching the Path of
Arahatship.
 6. THE WISE 17

difficult to enjoy. They should also abandon sense pleasures and, clinging to
nothing, should cleanse themselves of all impurities97 of the mind.

89. Those whose minds are well trained in the Seven Factors of Enlightenment98 and
who have rid themselves of all clinging,99 rejoice in having abandoned craving.100
Such ones, who have eradicated all moral intoxicants,101 have attained nibbāna
even in this world.102 ■

97
The five hindrances (nīvaraṇa): (1) desire for gratification of the senses (kāmacchanda); (2) ill will,
hatred, anger, aversion (vyāpāda); (3) sloth and torpor (thīna-middha); (4) restlessness, worry, agitation
(uddhacca-kukkucca); and (5) skeptical doubt (vicikicchā).
98
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhaṅga) are: (1) mindfulness (sati); (2) investigation of the
Truth (Dhamma-vicaya, that is, “seeking knowledge,” specifically, knowledge of the Four Noble Truths);
(3) energy (viriya); (4) rapture, zest, ecstasy (pīti); (5) tranquility (passadhi); (6) concentration (samādhi);
and (7) equanimity (upekkhā). The Seven Factors of Enlightenment are the requisites for attaining Path
Insight.
99
Clinging (upādāna) is an intensified degree of craving (taṇhā). There are four kinds of clinging: (1)
sense-desires (kāmupādāna); (2) false beliefs (diṭṭhupādāna); (3) adherence to wrongful rites and rituals
(sīlabbatupādāna); and (4) personality belief (atta-vādupādāna).
100
Craving (taṇhā) is the chief cause of suffering (dukkha) and of the ever-continuing cycle of rebirths
(saṁsāra).
101
Āsavas (literally “influxes”) “cankers, taints, corruptions, intoxicants, biases.” There are four kinds of
cankers: (1) desire for gratification of the senses (kāmāsava); (2) desire for eternal existence (bhavāsava);
(3) wrong views (diṭṭhāsava); and (4) ignorance (avijjāsava). The first āsava is attachment to the sentient
realm; the second is attachment to the Realm of Form and the Formless Realms.
102
On attaining Arahatship, the final stage of holiness, one eradicates all impurities and realizes nibbāna in
this very life. This is known as sopādisesa nibbāna, that is, experiencing the bliss of nibbāna with the
body (that is, the five aggregates [khandhas]) remaining. The Arahat lives as long as the power of his
rebirth reproductive kamma lasts, just as a spinning wheel keeps rotating even after the hand has been
removed. After death, he attains anupādisesa nibbāna, that is, nibbāna without the body (that is, without
the aggregates).
 7 • The Arahat 103

(Arahantavagga)

90. They have completed their journey;104 they are freed from sorrow105 and from all
else.106 The bonds107 of life have fallen from them, and the fever (of passions) no
longer exists in them.108

91. The thoughtful strive diligently.109 They take no delight in home-life,110 but forsake
home after home,111 as swans leave the lake.

92. Arahats accumulate nothing.112 When taking food, they reflect over it with full
understanding of its nature.113 Their sole goal is liberation,114 which is void and
signless.115 Like the flight of birds in the sky, their path cannot be traced.116

103
An Arahat, literally, “worthy one,” is one who has destroyed all passions such as greed (lobha), hatred
(dosa), and ignorance (avijjā). After the death of their physical bodies, Arahats are not reborn but attain
parinibbāna.
104
Here, “journey” means the round of rebirths (saṁsāra).
105
One becomes freed from sorrow on attaining the third stage of holiness, Non-Returner (Anāgāmi), one
who is not born again in this world.
106
They are freed in regard to all phenomena (dhamma), such as the five aggregates (khandha) and the like.
107
There are four kinds of bonds or ties (ganthas): (1) covetousness (abhijjhā); (2) ill will (vyāpāda); (3)
indulgence in wrongful rites and ceremonies (sīlabbataparāmāsa); and (4) adherence to one’s dogma or
dogmatic fanaticism (idaṁ saccabhinivesa). “These things are called ‘bonds,’ since they bind this mental
and material body” (Visuddhimagga XXII, 54).
108
This verse refers to the ethical state of an Arahat. Heat is both physical and mental. Arahats experience
bodily heat as long as they are alive, but they are not worried by it. They do not, however, experience the
mental heat (fever) of passions.
109
In calm abiding (samatha) and insight meditation (vipassanā).
110
That is, the life of sense pleasures.
111
Arahats wander wherever they like without attachment to any particular place, inasmuch as they are free
from the concept of “I” and “mine.” The meaning here is that they have relinquished all attachments.
112
There are two kinds of accumulation: (1) accumulation of kamma and (2) accumulation of possessions.
One’s wholesome and unwholesome deeds amount to accumulation of kamma. A Bhikkhu’s four requisites
constitute accumulation of possessions. In this regard, a Bhikkhu dwelling in a monastery, keeping one
lump of sugar, four portions only of clarified butter (ghee), and one measure (nāḷi) of uncooked rice is not
accumulation of possessions, but keeping more than that is.
113
In accordance with the three pariññās. Pariññā means “full comprehension, full understanding”. The
three pariññās are: (1) full understanding of the known; (2) full understanding of investigating; and (3) full
understanding as overcoming.
114
Nibbāna.
115
It is called “void” because it is free from greed, hatred, and ignorance. It is called “signless” because it
is free from the signs of greed, hatred, and ignorance. Arahats experience the bliss of nibbāna while alive.
116
Just as the track of birds that fly through the sky is hard to trace, is impossible to know, because they
leave no visible sign or mark (such as a footprint) that one can see, similarly, those in whom the twofold
20 THE DHAMMAPADA

93. Arahats are free from cankers;117 they are not attached to food. Their sole goal is
liberation, which is void and signless. Like the flight of birds in the sky, their path
cannot be traced.

94. Even the gods cherish such steadfast ones,118 whose sense faculties are calm, like
horses well-trained by charioteers, and who are free from pride and cankers.

95. Like the earth, Arahats are patient and cannot be provoked to respond in anger.
They stand firm and steady, like a column.119 They are serene120 and pure, like a
lake without mud.121 They are free from the cycle of birth and death.

96. Wisdom has stilled their minds, and their thoughts, words, and deeds are filled with
peace. Truly knowing the Dhamma, they are free from moral defilements and are
unperturbed by the ups and downs of life.

97. Those who are not credulous,122 who have realized the unconditioned,123 who have
cut off the links of the round of rebirths, who have destroyed all consequences of
good and bad deeds, who have discarded all craving, are indeed the noblest of all.124

98. They make holy wherever they dwell, in a village or a forest, in a valley or on a hill.

99. With their senses at peace and their minds full of joy, they take delight in secluded
forests,125 where worldlings are loath to go. ■

accumulation is not found, who understand food by the three forms of understanding, whose goal is
liberation, in their case too, the path by which they have departed is hard to trace; it cannot be followed,
due to lack of indications.
117
Āsavas (literally, “influxes”) “cankers, taints, corruptions, intoxicants, biases.”
118
Even the gods — and also human beings — eagerly long for the sight and arrival of ones such as these,
who are steadfast in self-control and freedom.
119
Indakhīla “Indra’s column.” The commentators mention that indakhīlas were firm posts, stakes, or
columns which were erected either inside or outside a city as an embellishment. Usually, they were made
of bricks or durable wood in octangular shapes. Half of the column was embedded in the ground, hence the
metaphor “as firm and steady as an indakhīla.” Another possible translation is “threshold.”
120
That is, they have neither attachment to desirable objects nor aversion to undesirable objects. Nor do
they cling to anything. Amidst the eight worldly conditions, they remain unperturbed, manifesting neither
attachment nor aversion, neither elation nor depression. The eight worldly conditions are: (1) gain (lābha)
and (2) loss (alābha); (3) fame (yasa) and (4) infamy or ill-repute (ayasa); (5) praise (paraṁsā) and (6)
blame (nindā); and (7) happiness (sukha) and (8) pain (dukkha).
121
The lake water, being free from mud, is unpolluted; Arahats, being free from defilements, are also
unpolluted (“serene and pure”).
122
Inasmuch as they have understood and experienced the Truth for themselves, they do not take things
upon faith from the words of others. They do not believe things which they know are not true.
123
Nibbāna.
124
Arahats.
125
They do not seek sense pleasures. Hence, Arahats prefer secluded forests, far from the allure of sense
objects.
 8 • Thousands
(Sahassavagga)

100. Better than a speech of a thousand words that are senseless and unconnected with
the realization of nibbāna is one thoughtful word that brings peace to the mind.

101. Better than a poem of a thousand verses that are senseless and unconnected with the
realization of nibbāna is one thoughtful line of verse that brings peace to the mind.

102. Better than the recitation of a hundred verses that are senseless and unconnected
with the realization of nibbāna is one word of the Dhamma that brings peace to the
mind.

103. One who conquers oneself126 is greater than another who conquers a thousand times
a thousand men on the battlefield.

104—105. It is better to be victorious over yourself than to conquer others. When you
attain victory over yourself, neither the gods nor Māra can turn it into defeat.

106. Better than performing a thousand rituals month after month for a hundred years is
paying homage, even if only for a moment, to one living in wisdom.127

107. Better than tending the sacrificial fire in the forest for a hundred years is paying
homage, even if only for a moment, to one living in wisdom.

108. Making gifts128 and sacrificial offerings,129 great and small, for a whole year to earn
merit is not worth a quarter of the honor paid to the Noble Ones who walk the right
path.130

126
Those who contemplate on internal subjects of meditation (kammaṭṭhāna), by day as well as by night,
and who conquer themselves through the conquest of their defilements such as greed, and so forth.
127
A Bhikkhu who has practiced insight meditation and is, therefore, self-composed, self-disciplined.
128
That which is prepared and given either to invited guests or with a belief in kamma and its results (such
as, for instance, giving charitable donations with the thought of gaining merit by so doing).
129
This generally means offerings given in connection with festive activities.
130
Ariyapuggalas, that is, Sotāpannas (Stream-Winners), Sakadāgāmis (Once-Returners), Anāgāmis (Non-
Returners), and Arahats (Worthy Ones). The idea conveyed by this verse is that reverence paid to Noble
Ones is far superior to gifts and offerings given to worldlings. “Stream-Winners” (Sotāpannas) are also
called “Stream-Enterers,” that is, “one who has entered the stream (of liberation),” and the first stage of
holiness is known as “Stream-Entry” (Sotāpatti).
22 THE DHAMMAPADA

109. To those who respect and honor the wise131 and follow them, four gifts will come in
increasing measure: health,132 happiness,133 beauty, and long life.

110. Better than living for a hundred years with those who are immoral and who have no
control over their senses is one day living with those who are virtuous and who
cultivate calm abiding and insight meditation.

111. Better than living for a hundred years with those who are ignorant and who have no
control over their senses is one day living with those who are wise and who
cultivate calm abiding and insight meditation.

112. Better than living for a hundred years with those who are idle134 and inactive is one
day living with those who make zealous and strenuous effort (to cultivate calm
abiding and insight meditation).

113. Better than living for a hundred years with those who do not perceive the arising
and dissolution of the five aggregates135 is one day living with those who perceive
the arising and dissolution of the five aggregates.

114. Better than living for a hundred years with those who do not perceive the deathless
state136 is one day living with those who perceive the deathless state.

115. Better than living for a hundred years with those who do not comprehend the Noble
Dhamma137 is one day living with those who comprehend the Noble Dhamma. ■

131
Those who are advanced in age, wisdom, and virtue.
132
Physical and mental vigor.
133
Physical and mental happiness.
134
According to the Commentary, those who are idle pass their time immersed in unwholesome thoughts.
135
The rise and decay of mind and matter — that is, the impermanent nature of all conditioned things. The
disciples of the Buddha are expected to contemplate the fleeting nature of life in order not to be attached to
illusory material pleasures.
136
The unconditioned state of nibbāna, free from birth, decay, and death.
137
That is, the nine supramundane states, namely, the Four Paths, the Four Fruits of holiness, and nibbāna.
 9 • Evil
(Pāpavagga)

116. Hasten to do good;138 restrain your mind from evil; for the mind of one who is slow
in doing good tends to take delight in doing evil.139

117. If you do what is evil, do not repeat it or take pleasure in making it a habit. An evil
habit will cause nothing but suffering.

118. If you do what is good,140 keep repeating it and take pleasure in making it a habit.
A good habit will cause nothing but joy.

119. Even though those who are evil141 may still find happiness as long as they do not
reap what they have sown, when they do, sorrow overcomes them.

120. Even though those who are good142 may still encounter suffering as long as they do
not reap what they have sown, when they do, joy overcomes them.

121. No one should think lightly of evil, imagining: “Sorrow will not come to me.”
Little by little, a person will be filled with evil, as a pot is filled by drops of water.

138
There should be no hesitation in doing good deeds. One must avail oneself of every opportunity to do
good. Every effort should be made to control the mind, inasmuch as it is prone to evil. The unpurified
mind rejoices in evil thoughts.
139
Pāpa “evil” is that which defiles one’s mind. It is that which leads to woeful states. That which is
associated with greed (lobha), hatred (dosa), and delusion (moha) is evil. There are ten kinds of evil deeds:
(1) killing; (2) stealing; (3) sexual misconduct; (4) false speech; (5) slander; (6) harsh speech; (7) idle
gossip; (8) covetousness; (9) ill will; and (10) false views.
140
Puñña “merit” is that which cleanses one’s mind. Kusala “karmically wholesome or profitable;
salutary; morally good; skillful” is another term for puñña. There are ten kinds of meritorious deeds: (1)
generosity (dāna); (2) morality (sīla); (3) meditation (bhāvanā); (4) reverence (apaciti); (5) service
(veyyāvacca); (6) transference of merit (pattānuppadāna); (7) rejoicing in other’s merit (abbhanumodana);
(8) teaching the Dhamma (desanā); (9) hearing the Dhamma (savana); and (10) straightening one’s views
(diṭṭhujukamma).
141
The wicked may lead prosperous lives as a result of their past good deeds. They will experience
happiness owing to the potentiality of their past good over the present evil, a seeming injustice that often
prevails in this world. When, according to the inexorable law of kamma, their evil deeds begin to ripen,
they will perceive the painful effects of their wickedness.
142
The virtuous, as it often happens, may meet with adversity owing to the potentiality of their past evil
actions over the present good deeds. They are convinced of the efficacy of their present good deeds only
when, at the opportune moment, they begin to ripen, giving them abundant joy.
The fact that, at times, the wicked are prosperous and the virtuous are unfortunate is itself strong
evidence to believe in kamma and rebirth.
24 THE DHAMMAPADA

122. No one should think lightly of good, imagining: “Joy will not come to me.” Little
by little, a person will be filled with merit, as a pot is filled by drops of water.

123. As a rich merchant traveling alone avoids dangerous roads, as one who loves life
avoids poison, let everyone avoid evil deeds.

124. If you have no wound on your hand, you can touch poison without being harmed.
No harm comes to those who do no harm.

125. If you harm a person who should not be harmed,143 one who is pure and free from
moral defilements, you harm yourself, as dust thrown against the wind comes back
to the thrower.

126. Some are born again as human beings.144 Those caught in evil ways go to a state of
intense suffering; those who have done good go to a state of joy; but those who are
free from moral intoxicants145 realize nibbāna.

127. Not in the sky, nor in the middle of the ocean, nor in mountain canyons, nor
anywhere else in the world is there a place where one can escape from the
consequences of one’s evil deeds.146

128. Not in the sky, nor in the ocean, nor in mountain canyons, nor anywhere else in the
world is there a place where one can hide from death. ■

143
An Arahat.
144
According to Buddhism, there are four kinds of birth: (1) egg-born (aṇḍaja); (2) womb-born (jalābuja);
(3) moisture-born (saṁsedaja); and (4) spontaneous birth (opapātika).
145
Āsavas (literally, “influxes”) “cankers, taints, corruptions, intoxicants, biases.”
146
It is impossible to escape the law of moral causation, nor can one avoid the woeful consequences of
one’s bad deeds by hiding in any place. No god or even a Buddha can intervene in the operation of kamma.
 10 • Punishment
(Daṇḍavagga)

129. Everyone fears punishment; everyone fears death, just as you do. Therefore, do not
kill or cause to kill.

130. Everyone fears punishment; everyone loves life, just as you do. Therefore, do not
kill or cause to kill.

131. If, hoping to be happy, you strike at others who are also seeking happiness, you will
be happy neither here nor hereafter.

132. If, hoping to be happy, you do not strike at others who are also seeking happiness,
you will be happy here and hereafter.

133. Speak quietly to everyone, and they too will be gentle in their speech. Harsh
words147 hurt and come back to the speaker.

134. If you can keep your mind calm and quiet, like a broken gong which is no longer
resonant, you are sure to realize nibbāna, leaving all harsh speech behind you.

135. As, with a staff, a cowherd drives cattle to fresh pastures, so also, old age and death
drive the life of all beings.

136. While they are performing evil deeds, the immature do not know what is in store for
them.148 They will suffer for their evil deeds, like one who is burned by fire.

137—140. If one harms those who are innocent149 and who should not be harmed,
suffering will come in one of these ten ways: they may suffer severe pain, or
poverty, or injury to the body (such as, for example, loss of limbs), or serious
illness (such as, for example, leprosy), or insanity, or misfortunes,150 or wrongful or
serious accusations,151 or loss of relatives, or loss of wealth, or the burning down of

147
Malicious talk. According to the Commentary, it means belittling others.
148
The meaning is that, while performing detrimental or evil deeds under the influence of hatred, ill will, or
aversion, they are not aware that there will inevitably be consequences for their actions.
149
Those who have caused no harm, either toward themselves or toward others. The reference here is to
Arahats,
150
Such as the loss of one’s position or one’s job or one’s reputation.
151
Slander.
26 THE DHAMMAPADA

their house by fire or lightning, and, after death, they will be reborn in a place of
continuous suffering.152

141. Not by going about naked,153 nor by having matted hair,154 nor by smearing oneself
with mud, nor by fasting, nor by sleeping on the ground, nor by covering oneself
with dust, nor by sitting motionless — no amount of penance155 can purify a person
who has not overcome doubt.156

142. But those whose mind is serene, who are free from moral defilements, who have
their senses controlled, who are established in Path Insight,157 who are perfectly
pure,158 and who have laid aside violence towards all beings159 — these are true
brāhmaṇas, true ascetics, true monks,160 even if they wear fine clothes.

143. It is rare to find in this world those who, out of a sense of shame, refrain from doing
evil and who have trained their minds. As a well-trained horse needs no whip, a
well-trained mind needs no prodding to be good.161

144. Like a well-trained horse, touched by the whip,162 be diligent and zealous. Through
confidence,163 virtue, effort, concentration, and investigation of the Truth,164 be
endowed with knowledge and firm in the practice of morality; with mindfulness,
leave this great misery165 behind.

145. As irrigators channel water where they want, as archers make their arrows straight,
as carpenters fashion timber, the wise shape their minds. ■

152
Even after having come by one of these ten conditions in the present life, suffering does not end but
continues ever onward until all of one’s evil actions have been expiated.
153
Naked asceticism is still practiced in India. External dirtiness is regarded by some as a mark of holiness.
The Buddha denounced such external forms of asceticism. The members of the celibate Order (the
Sangha) follow a middle path, avoiding the extremes of self-mortification and self-indulgence. Simplicity,
humility, and poverty should be the marked characteristics of Bhikkhus as much as cleanliness.
154
In India (Jambudīpa), unwashed, matted hair was (and still is) regarded as a sign of holiness.
155
Austerities, self-mortification.
156
With regard to the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha.
157
The four paths are: (1) the path of Stream-Entry (Sotāpatti); (2) the path of Once-Return (Sakadāgāmi);
(3) the path of Non-Return (Anāgāmi); and (4) the path of Arahatship (Arahatta).
158
In their conduct.
159
Absolutely harmless to all in thought, word, and deed.
160
Because they have overcome all impurities, all passions.
161
A self-respecting Bhikkhu or lay person, when obsessed with evil thoughts, tries to eradicate them then
and there. This verse indicates that such persons are rare.
162
A well-trained horse, having been touched by the whip due to being negligent, will make an earnest
attempt thereafter not to be so neglectful.
163
Saddhā “faith, confidence.”
164
The Dhamma.
165
Cyclic existence (saṁsāra).
 11 • Old Age
(Jarāvagga)

146. Why is there laughter, why merriment, when this world is on fire?166 When you are
living in darkness,167 why do you not look for light?168

147. Behold this lovely body,169 this mass of sores, supported by bones, subject to
illness, highly thought of.170 Indeed, this body is neither permanent nor enduring.

148. Quite worn out is this body,171 a nest for disease, subject to decay. This putrid body
will eventually disintegrate; life, indeed, ends with death.172

149. What pleasure can there be for those who see that their white bones will be cast
away, like gourds in the autumn?

150. Around the bones is built a house, plastered with flesh and blood, in which dwell
pride173 and scorn,174 old age and death.

151. Even the ornamented chariot of a king loses its glitter in the course of time; so, too,
the body loses its health and strength. But the Dhamma of the righteous does not
grow old with the passage of time. Thus do the righteous175 reveal it to those ready
to listen.

166
Burning with the fires of passion, etc.
167
Here, “darkness” means ignorance of the Four Noble Truths.
168
Visākhā, the chief lay benefactress of the Buddha, once visited Him accompanied by some women, who,
without her knowledge, brought liquor with them and drank it all. Visākhā asked the Buddha to teach them
the Dhamma. By that time, however, the women had become drunk. Shamelessly, they began boisterously
singing, dancing, clapping, and jumping about in the monastery. By using His psychic powers, the Buddha
created a darkness which brought them to their senses. He then uttered this verse.
This world is perpetually consumed with the flames of the passions. It is completely shrouded in the
veil of ignorance. Being placed in such a world, the wise should try to seek the light of wisdom (paññā).
169
Made lovely, beautiful, attractive on account of clothing, jewelry, perfume, etc.
170
As good and pleasant.
171
Worn out due to old age.
172
It is important to remember that this body will soon disintegrate. Why so? Because the life of all beings
has death as its end.
173
Smugness, conceit, self-estimation, self-importance, arrogance, haughtiness, etc. This means regarding
one’s own virtues, reputation, accomplishments, intelligence, importance, abilities, race, gender, sexual
orientation, appearance, religion, nationality, and so forth as superior to others.
174
Disdain, contempt, etc. This means regarding the virtues, reputation, and so forth of others as inferior to
one’s own.
175
Such as the Buddhas.
28 THE DHAMMAPADA

152. A man who does not learn from life grows old like an ox; his body grows, but not
his wisdom.

153. I have gone through many rounds of birth and death, seeking, but not finding, the
builder of this house.176 Sorrowful, indeed, is birth and death again and again!

154. But now I have seen you, O house-builder; you shall not build this house (for me)
again — its rafters are broken; its ridgepole is shattered. My mind has reached the
unconditioned;177 the end of craving178 has been attained.179

155. Those who have not practiced spiritual disciplines,180 who have not acquired wealth
in their youth,181 pine away, like old herons in a lake without fish.

156. Those who have not practiced spiritual disciplines, who have not acquired wealth in
their youth, lie like worn-out bows, sighing over the past. ■

176
The “house” is the body, the “house-builder” is craving. “Seeking, but not finding,” means failing to
attain Enlightenment.
177
Nibbāna.
178
The Fruit of Arahatship.
179
Verses 153 and 154 are the expressions (paeans) of the intense and sublime joy that the Buddha felt at
the moment He attained Enlightenment. As such, they are replete with a wealth of sublime meaning and
deep feeling. Here, the Buddha admits His past wanderings in cyclic existence, which thus proves His
belief in rebirth. He was compelled to wander, and, consequently, to suffer as long as He could not find the
builder of this house, the body. In His final birth, He discovered, by His own intuitive wisdom, the elusive
builder residing not outside but within the recesses of His own mind. It was craving (taṇhā), or attachment,
a self-creation, a mental element latent in all. The discovery of the builder is the eradication of craving by
attaining Arahatship. The rafters of this self-created house are the defilements (kilesas). The ridge-pole
that supports the rafters is ignorance (avijjā). The destruction of the ridge-pole of ignorance by wisdom
(paññā) results in the complete demolition of the house. With the demolition of the house, the mind attains
the unconditioned, which is nibbāna.
180
Those who have not lived the Holy Life.
181
Not having acquired wealth at the time when it was possible to obtain it or to maintain the wealth that
had been acquired.
 12 • The Self 182

(Attavagga)

157. If you hold yourself dear,183 guard yourself diligently. Keep vigil (against evil)
during one of the three watches of the night.184

158. One should first learn for oneself what is right; then only should one teach others.
By wisely following this course of action, one will be beyond reproach.185

159. One should also do what one instructs others to do.186 Before trying to train others,
one should first train oneself. It is difficult to learn to train oneself.

160. You alone are your own refuge; who else could be? With yourself thoroughly
controlled, you gain a refuge187 very difficult to find.

161. The evil done by oneself, arising in oneself, and caused by oneself crushes those
who lack wisdom, as a diamond crushes the rock from which it was formed.188

162. As a vine overpowers a tree, suffering overpowers those who do evil,189 trapping
them in a situation that only their enemies would wish them to be in.190

182
According to Buddhism, there is no permanent soul or unchanging entity (atta), either created by a god
or emanating from a paramātman “universal soul.” Here, the term atta “self” is applied by the Buddha to
the whole body, or one’s personality or mind or life flux.
183
That is, if one values oneself, if one values one’s own spiritual development.
184
In ancient India, the night was divided into three watches. According to the Commentary, the “watches”
in this context refer to the three stages of one’s life: (1) childhood; (2) youth; and (3) old age.
185
Those who attempt to teach others without first having purified themselves, receive criticism (contempt,
insults, blame, and the like) from others. On the other hand, those who attempt to teach others only after
having purified themselves, receive praise from others and are, therefore, not subject to pain.
186
One should practice what one preaches.
187
The Fruit of Arahantship. It is with reference to Arahantship that it is said here that one gains a refuge
that is difficult to find.
188
The unwholesome deeds done by oneself, which originated in oneself, grinds into those who are lacking
in wisdom; it grinds them in the four states of woe and destroys them, just as a diamond grinds into the
rock-gem, which, too, is made of the very same material — it grinds into the very place out of which it
originated, perforates it thoroughly, cuts it to bits, and makes it unsuitable for use.
189
This refers to a lay person who, from birth, does (and keeps doing) one or more of the ten wrong actions
or a monk who falls into grave lapses in discipline from the day of his higher ordination.
190
The Pāḷi reads: Yassa accantadussīyaṁ māluvā sālam iv’otataṁ karoti so tath’attānaṁ yathā naṁ
icchatī diso. A word-for-word translation would be: “Whose extreme unvirtue strangles him, as a māluvā
creeper strangles a sāla tree, he does to himself, just as an enemy wishes him to do.”
30 THE DHAMMAPADA

163. It is easy to do things that are bad and unbeneficial to oneself, but it is extremely
difficult, indeed, to do things that are beneficial and good.

164. Foolish people who scoff at the teachings of the wise, the noble, and the good, and
who follow false doctrines191 instead, bring about their own destruction, like the
bamboo tree,192 which dies after bearing fruit.

165. By oneself is evil done; by oneself is one defiled. By oneself is evil not done; by
oneself is one purified. Everyone has the choice to be pure or impure. No one can
purify another.193

166. Do not neglect your own duty194 for another, however great. Know your own duty
and perform it. ■

191
Diṭṭhi (or micchā-diṭṭhi) “wrong views.” This would include any religious, philosophical, or political
system that supports or promotes violence, ill will, or bigotry, in any form whatsoever, as well as any other
corrupt, false, or evil doctrine (such as eternalism, nihilism, annihilationism, hedonism, etc.). In the first
discourse of the Dīgha Nikāya, the Brahmajāla Sutta, sixty-two types of wrong view concerning the world
and the self taught by other teachers of the time are listed and described.
192
Kaṭṭhaka tree.
193
One can neither purify nor defile another.
194
One’s own personal spiritual growth — the reference here is to the practice of insight meditation. One
must not misunderstand this verse to mean that one should not selflessly work for the welfare of others.
Selfless service is highly recommended by the Buddha.
 13 • The World
(Lokavagga)

167. Do not pursue sense pleasures; do not be heedless; do not believe false doctrines; do
not prolong the world.195

168. Do not be heedless in standing (at the door for alms); scrupulously observe this
practice. One who observes proper practice196 lives happily both in this world and
the next.

169. Observe proper practice; do not observe improper practice.197 One who observes
proper practice lives happily both in this world and the next.198

170. Look on the world of aggregates as a bubble; look on it as a mirage.199 Then, the
King of Death will not find you.200

171. Come look at this world! Is it not like a painted royal chariot? The immature are
immersed in this world of aggregates, but the wise are not attached to it.

172. When those who were formerly heedless become mindful, they give light to the
world, like the full moon breaking free from behind the clouds.201

195
Loka “world” refers to the five aggregates of existence (khandhas), the continuity of which in the round
of existences (saṁsāra) is prolonged by the pursuit of sense pleasures, by heedlessness, and by believing
false doctrines.
196
The Commentary states that proper practice (dhammaṁ sucaritaṁ) means stopping for alms at one
house after another in the course of the alms-round except where it is not proper to go (such as the house of
a prostitute).
197
Improper practice (na naṁ duccaritaṁ) means not observing the rules listed in the preceding footnote.
198
Shortly after His Enlightenment, the Buddha returned home to Kapilavatthu. On the day after His
arrival, He went in quest of alms in the city. King Suddhodana, his father, hearing that his son was seeking
alms in the city, anxiously ran up to Him and said that he was disgracing him by begging alms in the streets
where He formerly used to travel in golden palanquins. Thereupon, the Buddha remarked that it was the
custom of all His predecessors to go seeking alms door to door, and He uttered these verses (168 and 169).
199
This psychophysical organism we call our “self” is to be regarded as a bubble, in the sense that it comes
into being and breaks up (that is, it is impermanent), or as though it were a mirage or an illusion, that is, as
empty and unreal. Those who see thus have put an end to the ills of life.
200
The King of Death does not see those who perceive the world of aggregates (khandhas), and the like, as
though it were a bubble or as though it were a mirage or an illusion.
201
Those, spending their time in the comfort of the Path and Fruit, light up this world of aggregates, and so
forth, with understanding obtained by the Paths, just as the full moon, breaking free from behind the clouds,
lights up the world.
32 THE DHAMMAPADA

173. When their good deeds202 overwhelm the bad ones that they have done, they give
light to the world, like the moon breaking free from behind the clouds.

174. The people of this world are blind; in this world, only a few can see clearly (with
Insight). Just as only a few birds are able to free themselves from a net, only a few
find their way to the world of the gods203 (and nibbāna).

175. Swans fly on the path of the sun; those with psychic powers fly through space;204
the wise are led away from this world,205 after conquering Māra and his train.206

176. Those who transgress the central law of life,207 who speak falsely or scoff at the life
to come, are capable of any evil.208

177. Misers209 do not go to the celestial realms. Fools210 do not praise generosity. The
wise rejoice in generosity and so gain happiness in the life to come.

178. Better than ruling this world, better than going to the realm of the gods,211 better
than being lord of all the worlds212 is one step taken on the path to nibbāna.213 ■

202
Here, “good deeds” (kusalena) refers to the Path of Arahatship, the fourth and final Path Knowledge.
203
Sagga “blissful states” — not places of eternal happiness.
204
Through mental development, it is possible to fly through the air, walk on water, dive into the earth, etc.
Such powers are psychic and supernormal, but they are not miraculous.
205
That is, they realize nibbāna.
206
The “train” or “host” of Māra, the Evil One, is described as ten kinds of passions: (1) sensory pleasures;
(2) aversion for the Holy Life; (3) hunger and thirst; (4) craving; (5) sloth and torpor; (6) fear; (7) doubt;
(8) distraction and obstinacy; (9) gain, praise, honor, and fame; and (10) extolling of oneself and the
contempt of others.
207
Truthfulness.
208
An untruthful person, with no self-respect, who has no belief in an after-life and who has no fear for the
attendant consequences of evil behavior, is liable to commit any evil. Such a person does not see earthly
bliss or heavenly bliss or nibbānic bliss.
209
Those hardened by stinginess.
210
Those who know neither this world nor the world beyond.
211
Internal purification is far superior to fleeting worldly possessions or transitory heavenly bliss.
212
Better than the regal status of a “universal monarch.”
213
Sotāpatti, attainment of the first stage that leads to nibbāna. Stream-Winners are not reborn in woeful
states, but those who strive after wealth and power in this world are not exempt from them.
 14 • The Awakened One
(Buddhavagga)

179. All moral defilements have been completely conquered in the Awakened One; no
further moral defilements can arise in Him in this world.214 By what track can you
lead the Buddha, the Awakened One, whose wisdom is infinite, into your trap?215

180. The Buddha, the Awakened One, whose wisdom is infinite, who is free from the net
of desires and the pollution of moral defilements and from all conditioning, by what
track can you lead Him into your trap?

181. The wise who are established in meditation216 take delight in the peace of liberation
from sensory pleasures and moral defilements.217 Such wise and mindful ones, who
truly understand the Four Noble Truths, are cherished even by the gods.

182. It is hard to obtain human birth;218 harder is the life of mortals;219 harder still to get
the opportunity to hear the true Dhamma. Rare is the appearance of a Buddha.

183. Avoid all evil, cultivate the good, purify your mind: this sums up the teaching of
the Buddhas.

184. Cultivate patience and forbearance, and attain nibbāna, the highest goal of life,
according to the Awakened Ones. A spiritual aspirant does not harm others; one
who harms others is not a true spiritual aspirant.220

185. One should neither find fault with others221 nor injure them.222 Rather, one should
live in accordance with the Fundamental Moral Code.223 One should be moderate

214
Of sensory attachments, and so forth, there is not so much as a single defilement remaining of the mass
of defilements He has conquered; the conquest is complete — the eradicated defilements can never arise in
Him again.
215
By what track, by what path, by what way, by what method can you lead the Buddha into your trap (into
temptation)? This means that the Buddha cannot be lured by any temptation whatsoever.
216
Those who are engaged in and are devoted to the two kinds of meditative absorption (jhāna), by turning
to, attaining, staying in, emerging from, and retrospective analysis of them. The two kinds of meditative
absorption are: (1) meditative absorption that is concerned with realizing the characteristics of phenomena
(insight meditation) and (2) meditative absorption that is concerned with concentrating on objects.
217
Nibbāna.
218
Rebirth as a human being is hard to come by due to the fact that it can only be obtained with great effort
through plentiful moral wholesomeness.
219
The life of mortals is hard, because it lasts only a short time. Moreover, one must be engaged in
constant activity in order to sustain that life.
220
Samaṇa — one who subdues one’s passions; an ascetic.
34 THE DHAMMAPADA

in eating and sleeping, should dwell in a secluded place, and should devote oneself
to higher concentration.224 This sums up the teaching of the Buddhas.

186—187. Even a shower of gold cannot quench sense desire;225 sense desire gives little
pleasure and is fraught with evil consequences. Knowing this, the true disciples of
the Fully Enlightened One find no delight even in celestial pleasures, but, instead,
rejoice in the cessation of craving.

188. Driven by fear, people run for safety to mountains and forests, to sacred spots and
shrines.

189. But none of these is a safe refuge, none is the highest refuge, because they cannot
free one from suffering.

190—191. Take refuge226 in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha, and, with full
insight, you will grasp the Four Noble Truths: suffering; the cause of suffering; the
end of suffering; and the Noble Eightfold Path that takes you beyond suffering.

192. This, indeed, is a safe refuge, the highest refuge. Having come to this refuge, one is
liberated from all suffering.227

193. One like the Buddha is hard to find; such a one is not born everywhere. Wherever
those established in wisdom are born, the community flourishes.

194. Blessed is the birth of the Buddha, blessed is the teaching of the Dhamma, blessed
is the Saṅgha,228 where all live in harmony.

221
One should neither find fault with others oneself nor cause others to find fault.
222
One should neither inflict injury oneself nor cause others to inflict injury.
223
Pātimokkha — the 227 disciplinary rules that every Bhikkhu is expected to observe.
224
Adhicitta — the eight absorptions (aṭṭhasamāpatti): the four fine material absorptions (rūpajjhāna) and
the four immaterial absorptions (arūpajjhāna). The absorptions are higher stages of mental concentration,
which enable one to gain supernormal power.
225
Kāma (also kāmacchanda) “sense desire.”
226
One’s best refuge is oneself. A Buddhist seeks refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha as
the Teacher, the Teaching, and the Taught in order to gain liberation (vimokkha). The Buddha is the
supreme Teacher, who shows the way to liberation. The Dhamma is the Unique Way. The Saṅgha
represents the Taught who have followed the Way and have become living examples. One formally
becomes a Buddhist by seeking refuge in this Triple Gem (Tisaraṇa, “three-fold refuge”).
227
All of the suffering of cyclic existence (saṁsāra).
228
The Saṅgha is the world’s oldest historic celibate Order, founded by the Buddha some 2600 years ago.
It is “democratic in constitution and communistic in distribution.” Strictly speaking, the Pāḷi word Saṅgha
refers only to those noble disciples (ariya) who have realized the Four Paths and Four Fruits. The ordinary
Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunīs are merely their representatives. The Pāḷi word parisā is used to refer to the
larger Buddhist community, including ordinary Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunīs as well as lay followers.
 14. THE AWAKENED ONE 35

195—196. When one pays homage to those who are worthy of homage — to the Buddha
and His disciples, who have overcome obstacles229 (to the development of insight)
and have rid themselves of sorrow and lamentation —, the merit gained by such a
person cannot be measured by anyone as “this much” or “that much.” ■

229
Such as craving, pride, and wrong view.
 15 • Happiness
(Sukhavagga)

197. Ah, happily do we live, indeed, not hating anyone among those who hate. Among
those who hate, we live without hating anyone.

198. Ah, happily do we live, indeed, never falling sick among those who are sick. We
live without disease230 even among those who are ill.231

199. Ah, happily do we live, indeed, never yearning for sense pleasures among those
who yearn for them. We live without yearning even among those who yearn.

200. Ah, happily do we live, indeed, free from impurities.232 We live in happiness, like
the gods of the Radiant Realm.

201. Conquest breeds hatred, for the conquered live in sorrow. Those who are peaceful
live happily, having renounced both conquest and defeat.

202. There is no fire like lust, no vice233 like hatred, no sorrow like the burden of the
aggregates, no happiness higher than the peace of nibbāna.

203. No disease is worse than hunger,234 no suffering is worse than attachment to

compound things.235 Those who are wise, knowing these things as they really are,
realize nibbāna, the highest happiness.

204. Health is the greatest gift, contentment is the greatest wealth,236 the trustworthy are
the best kinsmen,237 nibbāna is the greatest happiness.

230
Free from moral defilements.
231
Those who are afflicted with moral defilements.
232
Kiñcana, literally, “something evil that sticks to one’s personality,” is a name for the three unwholesome
roots (mūla): (1) greed (lobha); (2) hatred (dosa); and (3) delusion (moha).
233
Kali “an unlucky throw at dice; bad luck, misery; bad quality.” Here, the reference is to “bad quality,”
that is, “an evil or wicked habit or characteristic; a vice” — it is sometimes translated as “demerit” or “sin”
(in the moral sense).
234
Whereas other diseases are eliminated when medically treated, hunger (jighacchā) has to be “treated”
constantly; hence, it is said to be more severe than all other diseases.
235
Here, saṁkhārā “compound things” is used in the sense of the five aggregates: (1) corporeality (rūpa);
(2) feelings (vedanā); (3) perception (saññā); (4) (predisposing) mental formations (saṁkhārā); and (5)
consciousness (viññāṇa).
236
To be content with what one has is a treasure greater than other riches.
237
Whether related or not.
38 THE DHAMMAPADA

205. Having tasted solitude and the peace of nibbāna, those who drink in the joy of the
essence of the Dhamma become free from fear and evil.

206. It is good to see the Noble Ones — it is always a pleasure to be in their company. It
is also always a pleasure not to be in the company of the immature.

207. Those who associate with the immature grieve for a long time.238 Keeping
company with the immature is always painful — it is like going on a long journey
with an enemy. The company of the wise is joyful, like being reunited with one’s
relatives.

208. Therefore, one should associate with the wise, who are virtuous,239 dutiful,240
noble,241 learned,242 and steadfast.243 Keep company with them, as the moon moves
among the stars. ■

238
Those who associate with the immature become like-minded and engage in unwholesome deeds which
inevitably lead to states of woe. Hence, it is said that they “grieve for a long time.”
239
Of high moral character; ethical.
240
Regular in their practices.
241
Those who are noble (ariya) are far removed from defilements.
242
Endowed with textual learning and spiritual attainments.
243
Resolute in their determination to attain the highest.
 16 • Pleasures
(Piyavagga)

209. Do not run after sense pleasures and neglect the practice of meditation.244 If you
forsake the practice of morality, concentration, and insight and get caught up in the
pleasures of the world,245 you will come to envy those who put meditation first.246

210. Seeing those whom you hold dear brings pleasure, while not seeing them brings
pain. Seeing those whom you do not hold dear brings pain, while not seeing them
brings pleasure. Therefore, associate with neither, and go beyond both pleasure and
pain.247

211. Therefore, do not get selfishly attached to anyone or anything, for separation from
whomever or whatever you hold dear will bring you pain. There are no bonds for
those who hold no person or thing dear or not dear.248

212. Endearment249 brings grief; endearment brings fear. For those who are free from
endearment, there is neither grief nor fear.

213. Affection250 brings grief; affection brings fear. For those who are free from
affection, there is neither grief nor fear.

214. Selfish attachment251 brings grief; selfish attachment brings fear. For those who are
free from selfish attachment, there is neither grief nor fear.

215. Lust252 brings grief; lust brings fear. For those who are free from lust, there is
neither grief nor fear.

244
That is, the practice of careful attention (yoniso manasikāra).
245
That is, by frequenting places not befitting Bhikkhus.
246
Separated from the monastic Order (Saṅgha) on account of such conduct and having returned to lay life,
one comes to envy those who obtain the respect of both gods and humans by developing morality (sīla),
concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (paññā).
247
Applicable to both animate and inanimate objects (that is, to both persons and things).
248
They to whom no person or thing is dear, the physical bond of attachment is discarded; they to whom no
person or thing is not dear, the physical bond of aversion is discarded. These being discarded, other bonds
are also as good as discarded. Hence, no person or thing should be held dear or not dear to oneself.
249
Attachment to either persons or things held dear.
250
The meaning is: on account of affection engendered in regard to sons, daughters, and so forth.
251
Attachment to sense pleasures.
252
Selfish desire (kāma) for objective sensuality (vatthu) and for subjective sensuality. Suffering arises on
account of this twofold desire. “Objective sensuality” refers to the physical base, that is, the sensory
objects, while “subjective sensuality” refers to sensuality considered as defilement (kilesa). The texts often
40 THE DHAMMAPADA

216. Craving253 brings grief; craving brings fear. For those who are free from craving,
there is neither grief nor fear.

217. Those who are endowed with virtue and insight,254 who are established in the
Dhamma,255 who have realized the Truths,256 and who fulfill their own duties,257
win the respect of all the world.258

218. Those who have developed a desire to know the unconditioned,259 whose minds are
thrilled with a desire to reach that state,260 and who are no longer attached to the
sensory world,261 are known as those who are “headed upstream.”262

219—220. As your family, friends, and well-wishers receive you with joy when you
return home from a long journey, so will your good deeds receive you when you go
from this life to the next, where they will be waiting for you with joy, like your
kinsmen. ■

stress the fact that what fetters mankind to the world of the senses are not the sense-organs nor the sense-
objects but lustful desire (chandarāga).
253
Here, “craving” (taṇhā) refers to selfish desire that arises at the six doors (dvāra); that is, craving for
visible objects, for sounds, for smells, for tastes, for bodily impressions, and for mental impressions; in
other words, it is craving for sensory stimulation. Craving is the source of suffering (dukkha) and of the
ever-continuing cycle of rebirths (saṁsāra).
254
Those endowed with the four virtues leading to purity and also with right insight, which is combined
with Path and Fruit.
255
That is, the nine supramundane states, namely, the Four Paths, the Four Fruits of holiness, and nibbāna.
256
The Four Noble Truths are implied here.
257
The three modes of training: (1) morality (sīla); (2) concentration (samādhi); and (3) wisdom (paññā).
258
The world holds such as these dear and wants to see them, to honor them, and to make offerings to them.
259
Nibbāna.
260
By being filled with thoughts pertaining to the first three Paths and Fruits.
261
Kāmaloka “sensory world; the world of sensory pleasures.”
262
Uddhaṁsoto “going upstream,” that is, those who are bound for the Pure Abodes (Suddhāvāsa Brahma-
loka). The reference is to Non-Returners (Anāgāmis), who are reborn in the Avihā Suddhāvāsa and from
there pass upwards until they reach the Akaniṭṭha Suddhāvāsa, the highest of the five Pure Abodes.
 17 • Anger
(Kodhavagga)

221. Give up anger, give up pride,263 and free yourself from worldly bondage.264 No
sorrow can befall those who do not cling to mind and body,265 who are free from
moral defilements, and who never try to possess people and things as their own.

222. One who holds back rising anger like a skillful charioteer checks a speeding chariot
— that one I call a true charioteer. Other charioteers merely hold the reins.

223. Conquer those who are angry through loving-kindness, those who are evil through
goodness, those who are greedy through generosity, and those who tell lies through
truthfulness.266

224. One should speak only the truth, should not yield to anger, and should give freely
when asked,267 even if it is only a little. By means of these three things, one may go
to the world of the gods.

225. Injuring no one, always self-controlled in their actions, those who are wise268 go to
the deathless state269 beyond all sorrow.

263
Māna “pride, conceit, arrogance.”
264
This refers to ten fetters (saṁyojana) which bind beings to cyclic existence: (1) personality belief
(sakkāya-diṭṭhi) — the delusion of “selfhood”; (2) skeptical doubt (vicikicchā); (3) attachment to rites and
rituals (sīlabbata-parāmāsa); (4) desire for gratification of the senses (kāmarāga); (5) ill will (paṭigha); (6)
craving for fine-material existence (rūparāga); (7) craving for immaterial existence (arūparāga); (8)
conceit (māna); (9) restlessness (uddhacca); and (10) ignorance (avijjā). The first five are regarded as
“lower fetters,” the rest as “higher fetters.”
265
Nāma-rūpa “name and form; mind and body; mentality and corporeality.” Nāma-rūpa is the fourth link
in Dependent Origination (paṭiccasamuppāda), where it is conditioned by consciousness (viññāṇa) and, for
its part, is the condition of the six-fold sense base (saḷāyatana). Dependent Origination is the doctrine of
the conditionality of all physical and mental phenomena. Together with the doctrine of the impersonality
(anattā) of all physical and mental phenomena, Dependent Origination forms the indispensable condition
for a real understanding and realization of the Teaching of the Buddha.
266
Those who are prone to anger are to be won over by oneself being free from anger; those who are evil
are to be won over by oneself being good; those who are excessively stingy are to be won over by oneself
being generous with one’s own possessions; those who tell lies are to be won over by oneself being
truthful. As stated in verse 5 above: “Returning hatred with hatred will never bring hatred to an end in this
world; only by replacing hatred with love will hatred come to an end. This is an ancient and eternal law.”
267
To a Bhikkhu who stands silently at the door seeking alms.
268
Arahats.
269
Accuta “changeless; deathless; everlasting; eternal,” that is, Nibbāna. It does not mean immortality.
42 THE DHAMMAPADA

226. For those who are vigilant, who train themselves day and night in the three modes
of training,270 and who strive continually for nibbāna, the moral defilements come
to an end.

227. There is an old saying, Atula — it is not just of today: “People will blame you if
you say too much; they will blame you if you say too little; they will blame you if
you say just enough.” No one escapes blame in this world.

228. There never was, there never will be, nor is there now anyone who receives all
praise or all blame.

229—230. Who would criticize those whom the wise praise day after day, knowing them
to be truly faultless,271 wise themselves, and endowed with knowledge and virtue?
They shine like a coin of pure Jambonada gold.272 Even the gods praise them, even
Great Brahmā.

231. Guard yourself against bodily misconduct; control your body. Give up evil deeds,
and cultivate good deeds.

232. Guard yourself against evil speech; control your tongue. Give up evil speech, and
cultivate good speech.

233. Guard yourself against evil thoughts; control your mind. Give up evil thoughts, and
cultivate good thoughts.

234. Those who are wise are disciplined in body, as well as in speech and in mind. They
are well controlled indeed.273 ■

270
The three modes of training: (1) morality (sīla); (2) concentration (samādhi); and (3) wisdom (paññā).
271
Faultless in conduct; in morality.
272
The Pāḷi reads: Nikkhaṁ jambonadass’eva and means “like a nikkha of Jambonada gold.” Jambonada
gold comes from the Jambū River and is considered to be the finest gold. A nikkha can be a weight-unit of
gold, an ornament, a ring, or a coin.
273
Those who are wise are restrained in body, not resorting to violation of life, not causing harm, and so
forth; restrained in speech, not resorting to false speech, vulgar speech, sarcasm, gossip, and idle chatter;
and restrained in mind, not allowing covetousness, and so forth, to arise. In this world, they, indeed, are
well guarded, well controlled; their “doors” (dvāra) are well closed. There are six “doors,” namely: (1) the
eye door; (2) the ear door; (3) the nose door; (4) the tongue door; (5) the body door; and (6) the mind door.
The term “doors” is used metaphorically in the Abhidhamma to denote the portals through which the mind
interacts with the objective world. For more information, cf. Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha, Chapter 3, §§12—
15.
 18 • Impurities
(Malavagga)

235. You are now like a withered leaf; the messengers of death are near to you. You are
about to go on a long journey,274 but you are so unprepared.275

236. Make a lamp for yourself; strive on earnestly; be wise.276 By removing impurities
and freeing yourself from moral defilements, you shall live in the world of light.277

237. You are now well advanced in age, and you are in the presence of death. There is
no place for you to stop along the way,278 and you are so unprepared.

238. Make a lamp for yourself; strive on earnestly; be wise. By removing impurities and
freeing yourself from moral defilements, you will no longer be subject to rebirth
and old age.279

239. Little by little, instant by instant, remove your own impurities,280 as a silversmith
removes the dross from silver.

240. Just as rust corrodes the iron from which it is formed, evil deeds lead those who do
them to a state of woe.

241. Non-recitation weakens the scriptures;281 a house falls into ruin when not repaired;
the body loses health when it is not exercised; the watchman fails when vigilance is
lost.

242. Sexual misconduct is a taint in women; lack of generosity taints those who give.
Bad qualities, indeed, are taints both in this world and the next.

274
“About to go on a long journey,” that is, you are standing face to face with death.
275
You have not built up a store of merit for the next world.
276
“Lamp” means a store of wholesome kamma to support you; “strive on earnestly” means to start quickly
to accumulate wholesome kamma; and “be wise” means to perform wholesome deeds whenever you are
able to do so, without waiting for the approach of death.
277
Suddhāvāsa — the Pure Abode where Anāgāmis (Non-Returners) reside. The Buddha spoke this and
the preceding verse to a dying old man, when his son performed a meritorious act in his name.
278
Those who travel on a journey are able to stop for a rest along the way. Not so, however, for those
going to the world beyond — it is not possible for those going to the next world to say to death, “Be patient
for a few days while I do this or that.” As soon as one has left this world, one is reborn in the next.
279
This refers to Arahantship.
280
Moral defilements.
281
Repetitious recitation of the scriptures is the key to committing them to memory. Non-recitation is the
enemy of learning — through non-recitation, one gradually loses the ability to recall them without error.
44 THE DHAMMAPADA

243. But there is no taint worse than ignorance (of the Truth), the greatest taint. Remove
this taint through wisdom, and you will be taintless.

244. Life is easy for one without shame and as bold as a crow, a mischief-maker who
slanders others and is pretentious, aggressive, and corrupt.

245. Life is hard for one with a sense of shame, who is humble, gentle, contemplative,
and detached, and who tries to live in purity.

246. Those who kill, lie, get drunk, take what is not given, or commit adultery dig their
own graves, even in this very life.

247. Those who drink to intoxication are digging up their own roots.

248. Know this, dear fellow! Not restraining yourself brings evil in its wake. Do not let
greed and ill will drag you into prolonged suffering.282

249. Some give out of faith, others out of devotion.283 Do not envy others for the gifts
they receive, or you will have no peace of mind284 by day or night.

250. Those who have destroyed the roots of envy have peace of mind by day and night.

251. There is no fire like passion,285 no grip like hate,286 no net like delusion,287 no river
like craving.

252. It is easy to see the faults of others; we broadcast them, like winnowing chaff in the
wind. It is hard to see our own faults; we hide them, as a crafty gambler hides a
losing draw.

253. When one keeps dwelling on the faults of others and is always disparaging them,
one’s own moral intoxicants grow worse, making it harder to overcome them.288

254. There is no path in the sky;289 outside the Teachings of the Buddha, there is no
refuge.290 All beings delight in fetters.291 But the Tathāgatas292 are free from them.

282
In states of woe.
283
That is, they give only to those whom they admire among elders, novices, and others.
284
That is, they are unable to achieve samādhi — mundane or supramundane concentration.
285
Passion (rāga) burns internally without showing any external signs, such as smoke. Rāga may be
translated as “lust; greed; excitement; passion.” It is synonymous with lobha “greed.”
286
Seizure by a predator such as a python, a crocodile, a tiger, and so forth, grips a person only in a single
existence, but seizure by ill will (vyāpāda) continues on and on, life after life after life.
287
There is no net (or snare) comparable to delusion (moha) in that it binds and entangles one all around.
288
To achieve the Fruit of Arahatship.
289
There are no tracks, marks, or signs (such as footsteps) in the sky by which they can be traced. The
reference is to Arahats and Buddhas.
 18. IMPURITIES 45

255. There is no path in the sky; outside the Teachings of the Buddha, there is no refuge.
All conditioned things are impermanent.293 But the Buddhas are unperturbed.294 ■

290
Outside of the dispensation (sāsana) of the Buddha, there are no recluses who are established in the
Paths and Fruits.
291
Such as craving, pride, wrong view, etc.
292
Literally, “one who has thus come” or “one who has thus gone.” It is an epithet of the Buddha.
293
Here, “conditioned things” (saṁkhārā) refers to the five aggregates, not one of which is eternal.
294
By craving, pride, and wrong view, according to which they would see conditioned things as eternal.
 19 • Established in Dhamma
(Dhammaṭṭhavagga)

256. Justice is ill-served when one passes judgment capriciously.295 Those who are wise
pass judgment after carefully considering both what is right and what is wrong.296

257. Those who do not pass judgment capriciously,297 but, instead, in accordance with
the law, safeguard the law. Thus, they are called “those who abide by the law.”298

258. One is not wise merely because one talks a good deal. Only those who are patient,
who are free from hatred and fear, and who do no harm to others, are wise.

259. One is not versed in the Dhamma just because one talks about it. One is versed in
the Dhamma who understands it and lives in harmony with it,299 even if one has
heard but a little.

260. Gray hair does not make an elder; one can grow old and still be a fool.

261. True elders300 are those who comprehend the Four Noble Truths and the Dhamma,
who are harmless and virtuous, and who restrain their senses and rid themselves of
moral defilements.

262. Neither pleasant words nor good looks can make a person attractive who is jealous,
selfish, or deceitful.

263. Only those who have uprooted such impurities from the mind are fit to be called
“attractive.”

264. Shaving one’s head cannot make a recluse of one who is undisciplined301 and tells
lies. How can one who is driven by covetousness and greed be a true recluse?

295
Sahasā “hasty, inconsiderate,” “falsely or unfairly influenced by desire, hatred, fear, or ignorance;” the
reference is to those who are biased.
296
What is true and what is not true.
297
That is, those who are impartial, fair-minded, unbiased.
298
Dhammaṭṭha “standing in the law, abiding by the law, just, righteous.”
299
By making strenuous effort to put into practice what little one knows, striving hard for penetrative
realization.
300
Thera, a term applied to Bhikkhus who have been in the Order for at least ten years from the date of their
higher ordination.
301
One who does not practice higher morality (sīla) and means of purification (dhutaṅga). The latter are
strict observances recommended by the Buddha to monks as a way to cultivate contentment, renunciation,
48 THE DHAMMAPADA

265. One is a true recluse who has totally extinguished all evil, large and small.

266. Seeking alms302 from others does not make one a Bhikkhu; nor does following a
Dhamma that is foul303 make one a Bhikkhu.

267. He is a true Bhikkhu who lays aside both good and evil, who leads a life of purity,
and who passes through the world with detachment.304

268—269. Observing silence cannot make a sage of one who is dim-witted and ignorant.
Like those who determine weight by holding a pair of scales, those who are wise
determine what is good and what is evil — they accept the good305 and reject the
evil. For this reason, they are wise. They who also understand both worlds306 are
called “sages.”

270. Those who harm living beings are, for that reason, not Noble Ones; only those who
do not harm living beings can rightly be called “Noble Ones.”307

271—272. Not by mere moral practice,308 nor by acquiring much learning, nor by
developing deep concentration, nor by dwelling in seclusion, nor by thinking to
oneself “I enjoy the bliss of renunciation309 not experienced by worldlings,” should
the spiritual aspirant be content until full liberation310 has been achieved. ■

energy, and the like. One or more of them may be observed for a shorter or longer period of time. Thirteen
such observances are enumerated in the Visuddhimaga, II.
302
Strictly speaking, Bhikkhus do not beg. They stand silently at the door, accepting whatever is offered.
303
A corrupt or heretical Dhamma. The Pāḷi term is vissaṁ. Vissaṁ has two meanings: “all, whole” and
“foul smelling.” The Commentary gives only the latter meaning in this case.
304
One who lives in the world of the five aggregates of clinging (upādānakkhandha) without being
attached to them.
305
Varaṁ “the most excellent, the best, the good, the noble.” In this context, it refers to morality (sīla),
concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (paññā).
306
Ubho loke, literally, “both worlds” — the meaning here is internal and external aggregates, that is, one’s
own aggregates as well as those of others.
307
This verse was uttered by the Buddha to a fisherman named Ariya.
308
The four kinds of higher morality (sīla) observed by Bhikkhus and the thirteen kinds of ascetic practices
(dhutaṅga).
309
Nekkhammasukhaṁ: In this context, the reference is to Anāgāmi Fruition, the fruition that follows the
attainment of Anāgāmi Magga.
310
Arahatship.
 20 • The Path
(Maggavagga)

273. Of paths, the Eightfold311 is the best; of truths, the Noble Four are best; of mental
states, detachment312 is the best; of human beings, the All-Seeing One313 is the best.

274. This is the only path; there is no other that leads to the purification of vision.314
Follow this path — it will bewilder Māra.315

275. This path will lead to the end of suffering. This is the path I made known after the
arrows316 of sorrow fell away.

276. All the effort must be made by you; the Tathāgatas can only show the way. Those
who enter this path and practice meditation are freed from the bond of Māra.317

277. All compound things are impermanent; those who realize this through insight-
wisdom318 are freed from suffering. This is the path that leads to purity.319

278. All compound things have suffering as their nature; those who realize this through
insight-wisdom are freed from suffering. This is the path that leads to purity.

279. All states are without self;320 those who realize this through insight-wisdom are
freed from suffering. This is the path that leads to purity.

311
The Noble Eightfold Path (Ariya Aṭṭhaṅgika Magga) consists of: (1) right understanding (sammā
diṭṭhi); (2) right thoughts (sammā saṁkappa); (3) right speech (sammā vācā); (4) right action (sammā
kammanta); (5) right livelihood (sammā ājīva); (6) right effort (sammā vāyāma); (7) right mindfulness
(sammā sati); and (8) right concentration of mind (sammā samādhi). This is the path taught by the Buddha
for liberation from the round of existences (saṁsāra).
312
Virāga “detachment,” that is, nibbāna.
313
Cakkhumā “All-Seeing One” (from cakkhu “eye”), an epithet of the Buddha.
314
This path alone, which the Buddha called “the best,” is there for purifying “the vision of Path and Fruit.”
315
This path, indeed, will confuse Māra, that is, it will trick him away.
316
This path is the drawing out or removal of all “arrows,” such as desire for the gratification of the senses
(sense desire), etc. This is the path made known by the Buddha, having understood it Himself by way of
self-realization.
317
Those who enter the path taught by the Tathāgatas and who practice the two kinds of meditation (calm
abiding [samatha] and insight meditation [vipassanā]), are released from the bond of Māra known as “the
whirl of the three planes of existence.”
318
Paññā is translated here as “insight-wisdom” (vipassanā paññā).
319
That is, to the purification of the mind.
320
Impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha), and soullessness (anattā) are the three characteristics of all
things conditioned by causes (saṁkhārā). It is by contemplating these three characteristics that one realizes
nibbāna. A meditator may concentrate on any characteristic that appeals to him or her most.
50 THE DHAMMAPADA

280. Those who are indolent, who do not put forth the effort when they are young and
strong, and who have a weak will and a divided mind, will never attain Path Insight,
which can only be perceived by wisdom.

281. Be guarded in speech, well-controlled in mind, and do no evil through your body.321
Purify these three, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.322

282. Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Knowing well this
twofold path of gain and loss of wisdom, choose the path that leads to wisdom.

283. Cut down the forest of mental and moral defilements — not real trees.323 The forest
of mental and moral defilements breeds danger.324 Therefore, cut down this forest,
including the undergrowth,325 O Bhikkhus, and be free of craving.

284. So long as the desire of man towards women326 is not cut down and the slightest
trace of it remains, that is how long one’s mind is in bondage, as the calf is bound to
its mother.

285. Cut off327 selfish desire, as one would pluck an autumn lotus with the hand. Follow
the path to nibbāna expounded by one328 who knows the way.

286. “I will make this my winter home, have another house for the monsoon season, and
dwell in a third during the summer.” Lost in such fantasies, the immature forget the
danger that awaits them.329

Anattā, that is, soullessness, selflessness, or essencelessness, is the crux of Buddhism. The term
saṁkhāra “compound,” which is applied to any conditioned thing, is used in the two previous verses (nos.
277 and 278), while, in the third verse (no. 279), the term dhamma is used in order to show that everything,
including the unconditioned nibbāna, is without self existence. Nibbāna is not included in saṁkhāra. It is
neither transitory nor sorrowful. Dhamma embraces both the conditioned and the unconditioned. Nibbāna
is, and it is essenceless.
321
Be “watchful in speech” by avoiding the four kinds of verbal misconduct; “well-controlled in mind” by
not allowing thoughts of covetousness, etc., to arise; “do no evil through your body” by not taking life, etc.
322
Thus purifying the three modes of action, one should choose the eightfold path taught by the Buddhas.
323
When the Buddha said, “cut down the forest,” some newly-ordained Bhikkhus thought He meant cutting
down real trees. The Buddha corrected their misunderstanding by uttering these words.
324
Of rebirth.
325
Here, the large trees are called vana “forest,” and the small ones are called vanatha “undergrowth.” In
the same way, the bigger defilements (that is, those that drag one into future existences) are called vana,
while the small ones (that is, those that produce ill effects in this life) are called vanatha.
326
Any kind of sexual desire regardless of what the object is of one’s desire.
327
Cut off selfish desire by means of the Path of Arahatship.
328
The Buddha.
329
The approach of death.
 20. THE PATH 51

287. Death carries away a man who is absorbed in his family and his possessions330 and
whose mind longs for and is attached to sense pleasures, as the monsoon flood
sweeps away a sleeping village.

288—289. Neither children nor parents nor relatives can rescue one whom death has
seized. Indeed, neither kith nor kin can give protection. Remembering this, those
who are wise, who are restrained by morality, should quickly clear the obstacles to
the path331 that leads to nibbāna. ■

330
A man who, having obtained children and domestic animals (herds of cattle), is absorbed in these things,
thinking: “My sons are attractive, strong, learned, and competent in all functions. My oxen are beautiful,
healthy, and capable of driving heavy loads. My cows yield much milk.”
331
The Noble Eightfold Path.
 21 • Varied Verses
(Pakiṇṇavagga)

290. If, by giving up a lesser happiness, one may behold a greater one,332 let those who
are wise give up the lesser to gain the greater.

291. Those who seek their own happiness by inflicting pain on others, being themselves
entangled by the bonds of hatred, cannot be free from hatred.333

292. Do not leave undone what ought to be done,334 and do not do what ought not to be
done.335 In such conceited and heedless ones, the burden of suffering will only
grow heavier.

293. In those mindful and contemplative ones who practice “mindfulness of the body”
meditation, who always do what ought to be done336 and never do what ought not to
be done,337 suffering will come to an end.

294. Having slain mother craving, father self-conceit, and the two warrior kings,338 and
having destroyed the kingdom,339 along with its revenue collector,340 ungrieving341
fares the brāhmaṇa.342

295. Having slain mother craving, father self-conceit, and the two warrior kings, and
having destroyed the five hindrances, the fifth of which is perilous, like a journey
along a tiger-infested path,343 ungrieving fares the brāhmaṇa.

332
Vipulaṁ sukhaṁ: according to the Commentary, “the greater one” refers to the bliss of nibbāna.
333
Such as these, indeed, on account of that hatred, constantly come to grief.
334
For a Bhikkhu, “what ought be done” includes the observance of moral precepts, living in a forest,
maintenance of ascetic practices (dhutaṅga), steadfastness in meditation (bhāvanā), etc. In other words, it
includes the kinds of tasks that are the proper function of a Bhikkhu from the time of “going forth.”
335
For a Bhikkhu, “what ought not to be done” includes decorating umbrellas, shoes and sandals, bowls and
beakers, water-pots, waistbands, and shoulder straps, etc. These are not the proper tasks of a Bhikkhu.
336
Those who are constant practitioners, who scrupulously observe the moral precepts, who unceasingly act
with diligence to the task to be done, etc.
337
They never do what is improper.
338
The two Khattiya kings. This refers to the two views of eternalism and annihilationism.
339
“The kingdom” refers the sense-doors and sense-objects.
340
“The revenue collector” refers to attachment.
341
The meaning here is that the one in whom the cankers (āsavas) have been extinguished goes without
suffering, because the four cankers (desire for gratification of the senses; desire for eternal existence;
wrong views; and ignorance) have been destroyed by the sword (asi) of the Path of Arahatship.
342
An Arahat.
54 THE DHAMMAPADA

296. The disciples of Gotama are wide awake and vigilant, with their thoughts focused
on the Buddha day and night.

297. The disciples of Gotama are wide awake and vigilant, with their thoughts focused
on the Dhamma day and night.

298. The disciples of Gotama are wide awake and vigilant, with their thoughts focused
on the Saṅgha day and night.

299. The disciples of Gotama are wide awake and vigilant, with their thoughts focused
on mindfulness of the body344 day and night.

300. The disciples of Gotama are wide awake and vigilant, delighting in harmlessness345
day and night.

301. The disciples of Gotama are wide awake and vigilant, delighting in meditation346
day and night.

302. It is hard to leave the world;347 it is hard to live the life of a Bhikkhu. It is painful to
stay in the world;348 it is painful to have to be in the company of those of an uneven
temperament.349 Those who wander in cyclic existence are trapped in suffering.
Therefore, do not be one who wanders in cyclic existence; do not be one who is
trapped in suffering.

303. Those who are full of confidence350 and pure in conduct, possessed of good repute
and wealth,351 are honored wherever they go.

304. The good shine like the Himalayas, whose peaks glisten above the rest of the world
even when seen from afar. The wicked pass unseen, like an arrow shot at night.

343
Veyyagghapañcamaṁ — this term is used to denote the five hindrances (nīvaraṇa), of which skeptical
doubt or indecisiveness is the fifth. A dangerous and perilous path which is infested with tigers is called
veyyaggha. Skeptical doubt (vicikicchā) or indecisiveness is comparable to such a path.
344
The mindfulness arising on account of the contemplation of the thirty-two component parts of the body,
the ten cemetery contemplations, the analysis of the four elements, or the contemplation of the fine-material
sphere, such as the internal blue kasiṇa, and so forth.
345
Delighting in the meditation on compassion (karuṇā).
346
Specifically, the meditation on loving-kindness (mettā).
347
It is difficult to leave the world and go forth into the homeless life of a Bhikkhu. It is difficult to
abandon one’s wealth, one’s possessions, one’s home, one’s occupation, one’s friends, one’s family, one’s
relatives, and so on, and go forth into the homeless life.
348
The life of a householder is also difficult. The obligations associated with the household life are also
difficult to fulfill and a source of suffering.
349
An “uneven temperament” refers to those who are argumentative and ill-tempered.
350
Saddhā, trustful confidence based on knowledge. Blind faith is discouraged in Buddhism.
351
“Fame” such as the “lay fame” of householders like Anāthapiṇḍika, and others. Wealth is twofold: (1)
grains and so forth and (2) the sevenfold “noble wealth.”
 21. VARIED VERSES 55

305. Those who sit alone,352 sleep alone,353 go about alone, who are unwearied, and who
vanquish the ego by themselves alone354 will find delight in a forest grove.355 ■

352
Those who maintain proper posture and steadfast attention on the meditation topic even though they
may be in the midst of a thousand Bhikkhus are said to be “sitting alone.”
353
Those who lie down on their right side with unfaltering mindfulness and with attention focused on the
meditation topic are said to be “sleeping alone.”
354
The meaning here is: disciplining oneself, all by oneself, by means of attaining the Paths and Fruit,
having duly engaged in concentration on a meditation topic, at the places of resting at night, and so forth.
355
The meaning here is: thus disciplining oneself, one would take delight in a forest grove, which is
secluded from the sounds of men and women and so forth, for it is not possible for one to be so disciplined
when living a crowded life.
 22 • The Downward Course
(Nirayavagga) 356

306. Those who say what is not true (about others),357 those who do evil and then deny
what they have done, both choose the downward course. After death, they become
equals in the netherworld.358

307. Those who put on the saffron robe but remain ill-mannered and undisciplined in
thought, word, and deed are dragged downward by their evil deeds.359

308. It is better for a monk who is without morality and undisciplined in thought, word,
and deed to swallow a red-hot ball of iron than to eat the alms-food offered by the
devout.

309. Four misfortunes befall those who, unmindful of right conduct, commit adultery:
loss of merit, loss of sleep, condemnation, and rebirth in a state of woe.

310. On this downward course, what pleasure can there be for the frightened man lying
in the arms of his frightened lover, both going in fear of punishment? Therefore, do
not commit adultery.

311. As a blade of kusa grass360 can cut the finger when it is wrongly held, asceticism
carelessly practiced361 can send one on the downward course.

312. An act carelessly performed, a vow not kept, conduct unbefitting a Bhikkhu — these
things bring little reward.

313. If anything is worth doing, do it well; do it firmly and energetically. Half-hearted

ascetics merely cover themselves with more and more dust (of moral defilements).

356
Niraya refers to a state of woe, a place of punishment and torture, where evil kamma is worked out. It is
usually translated as “purgatory” or “hell.” Here, it is translated as “the downward course” (duggati), since
the verses in this chapter mostly discuss courses of action that lead downward to a state of woe and to avoid
being confused with concepts of Purgatory or Hell in other religions. According to Buddhism, rebirth in a
state of woe is not eternal.
357
Those who, without having actually seen any fault in another, tell lies and accuse another falsely.
358
Those who say what is not true and those who deny what they have done, having gone to the world
beyond, become equal so far as their destination is concerned, both going to a state of woe.
359
That is, they will be reborn in a state of woe.
360
Here, kusa (Sanskrit kuśa) refers to any type of grass with a sharp blade. In Hinduism, it refers to the
sacred grass used in certain religious ceremonies.
361
Due to broken moral precepts, and so forth.
58 THE DHAMMAPADA

314. It is better to refrain from evil deeds; evil deeds torment those who perform them
later on. It is better to perform good deeds, which will not lead to sorrow.

315. Guard yourself well, both within and without,362 like a well-defended fort. Do not
waste a moment, for wasted moments send you on a downward course.

316. Those who are ashamed of what is not shameful,363 who are not ashamed of what is
shameful,364 and who hold wrong views365 are headed on a downward course.

317. Those who see danger in what is not dangerous, who do not see danger in what is
dangerous,366 and who hold wrong views are on a downward course.

318. Those who see wrong where there is none,367 who do not see wrong where there
is,368 and who hold wrong views are on a downward course.

319. But those who see wrong where there is wrong, who see no wrong where there is
none, and who hold right views are on an upward course. ■

362
This means to guard both the internal and the external senses. The six internal senses (sense bases) are
eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind; the six external senses (sense objects) are visible objects, sounds,
smells, tastes, touch, and thoughts or ideas.
363
Bhikkhus, for example, should not be ashamed of their begging bowls.
364
One should be ashamed of having one’s private parts exposed in public, for example.
365
Those who believe what is contrary to reality, contrary to the truth, contrary to the facts. Wrong or evil
views (diṭṭhi or micchādiṭṭhi) are condemned by the Buddha, inasmuch as they are a source of wrong and
evil aspirations and conduct and lead a person to woe and suffering.
The wrong view that has, everywhere and at all times, most misled and deluded humanity is ego-
delusion or personality belief. Personality belief (sakkāyadiṭṭhi) is of two kinds: (1) eternity belief and (2)
annihilation belief. The belief in an ātman or soul usually goes hand-in-hand with the belief in the Creator
God of theistic religions, who is considered to be the first, most perfect, and most powerful of the “souls.”
Buddhism utterly rejects the concept of a Creator God — a “first cause” — as being “impossible.”
Another listing of wrong beliefs includes the following: (1) there is no such virtue as generosity —
this means that there is no good effect in giving alms; (2) there is no such virtue as liberal alms giving; (3)
there is no such virtue as offering gifts to friends — here, too, the implied meaning is that there is no effect
in such charitable actions; (4) there is neither fruit nor result of good or evil actions; (5) there is no such
belief as “this world”; (6) there is no such belief as “a world beyond”; (7) there is no mother — that is,
there is no effect in anything done to her; (8) there is no father — that is, there is no effect in anything done
to him; (9) there are no beings who die and are being reborn; (10) there are no righteous and well-
disciplined recluses and brāhmaṇas who, having realized by their own super-intellect this world and the
world beyond, make known the same — the reference here is to Buddhas and Arahats.
In the Brahmajāla Sutta (the first discourse of the Dīgha-Nikāya), sixty-two false views are listed and
described, comprising all conceivable wrong views and speculations about humanity and the world.
The so-called “evil views with fixed destiny” (niyata-micchādiṭṭhi) include: (1) the fatalistic view of
the uncausedness of existence (ahetukadiṭṭhi); (2) the view of the inefficacy of action (kiriyadiṭṭhi); and (3)
nihilism (natthikadiṭṭhi).
366
Sources of danger include: desire for gratification of the senses (sense desire), ill will, confusion, self-
estimation (arrogance, conceit, etc.), speculative opinions, moral defilements, misconduct, and so forth.
367
Avajja — this refers to the ten kinds of right belief.
368
Vajja — this refers to the ten kinds of wrong belief.
 23 • The Elephant
(Nāgavagga)

320. Patiently, I shall bear harsh words directed at me, as an elephant bears arrows shot
from a bow on the battlefield. Alas, most people are undisciplined.369

321. Only the trained (horses and elephants) are taken to gatherings of people; the king
mounts only the trained (horse or elephant). Best among men are those who have
trained the mind to endure harsh words patiently.

322. Mules, thoroughbred horses, horses from Sindh, and great elephants are good
animals when they are trained. But even better are those with well-trained minds.

323. Indeed, no means of transport370 can take one to the place where one has never been
before;371 only those with a well-trained mind372 can go to this untrodden land.

324. When in must and difficult to control, the elephant named Dhanapālaka, being held
in captivity against his will, will not eat so much as a morsel;373 he yearns to return
to his forest home.374

325. Those who are dim-witted, who eat too much, who sleep too much, who are lazy,
and who wallow about like an overfed hog, are born again and again.

326. Long ago, my mind used to wander as it liked and do what it wanted. Now, I can
control my mind, as a mahout controls an elephant with his goad.

327. Delight in vigilance; guard your mind well.375 Raise yourself out of the mire of
moral defilements, as an elephant raises itself out of the mud.

328. If you find friends who are virtuous, wise, and loyal, joyfully and mindfully walk
with them and overcome all dangers.

369
The majority of people, being undisciplined in morality, speak without thinking and create conflict.
370
Such as elephants and horses.
371
Nibbāna.
372
Those who, having first controlled the senses, have later developed Path Insight.
373
When in heat, elephants are by nature fierce and difficult to control. The elephant Dhanapālaka was
exceptionally fierce.
374
The story associated with this verse is that of a captive elephant named Dhanapālaka who had been
caring for its parents in the forest.
375
Against negative thoughts.
60 THE DHAMMAPADA

329. If you cannot find friends who are virtuous, wise, and loyal, walk on alone, like a
king who relinquishes his kingdom376 or an elephant roaming at will in the forest.

330. It is better to be alone than to associate with those lacking wisdom. Be contented,
turn away from evil, and walk alone, like an elephant roaming in the forest.

331. It is good to have friends when the need arises; good to be content with whatever is
available. Good deeds377 are friends at the time of death. But best of all is going
beyond sorrow.378

332. In this world, it is good to attend to the needs of one’s mother; good to attend to the
needs of one’s father; good to attend to the needs of samanas.379 But best of all is
to attend to the needs of brāhmaṇas.380

333. It is good to live in virtue till old age; good to have unshakable faith; good to attain
the highest wisdom; good to do no evil. Joy will be yours always. ■

376
Who abdicates the throne and becomes a recluse by “going forth” into homelessness.
377
Merit.
378
Dukkha.
379
Ascetics.
380
Buddhas and Arahats.
 24 • Craving
(Taṇhāvagga)

334. The compulsive urges381 of those who live heedlessly382 grow like a creeper. They
jump from one life to another, like a monkey looking for fruit in the forest.

335. In this world, when one is overwhelmed by this vile craving that tenaciously clings
to the senses, sorrow spreads like wild grass.

336. In this world, sorrow falls away from the life of one who has overcome this vile
craving — so hard to get rid of —, as drops of water fall away from a lotus leaf.

337. Therefore, I say to all of you assembled here, dig up craving root and all, as you
would uproot bīraṇa grass.383 Do not allow Māra to crush you again and again, as
a stream crushes reeds on its banks.

338. As a tree, though cut down, recovers and grows again if its roots are not destroyed,
suffering384 will come to you again and again if these compulsive urges are not
rooted out.

339. Those who hold wrong views,385 in whom the thirty-six streams (of craving) that
flow386 toward pleasurable objects are strong, are swept away by the currents of
their deluded thoughts connected with passion.

340. The currents of craving flow towards all sense objects. The creepers of craving
arise (at the six sense doors) and fix themselves (on the six sense objects).
Whenever you see these creepers of craving growing in your mind, uproot them
with wisdom.387

381
That is, craving. Craving is threefold: (1) craving for sense-pleasures; (2) craving for birth in a world of
separateness; and (3) craving for existence to end. Craving for personal sense fields, such as eye, ear, nose,
tongue, body, and mind, and for external sense objects such as forms, sounds, scents, tastes, contact, and
mind objects, when viewed in terms of these three aspects, divides itself into thirty-six varieties.
382
Those who live a life that is heedless, with heedlessness characterized by slackened awareness, develop
neither meditative absorption, nor insight, nor path and fruit.
383
A type of wild grass known for its fragrance.
384
Dukkha — of birth, ageing, and death.
385
Those whose views are debased due to defective understanding.
386
Through the six sense doors.
387
Path Insight.
62 THE DHAMMAPADA

341. In all human beings, sense pleasures arise that are drenched with craving. All are
attached to sense pleasures; all seek happiness. Hankering after such pleasures,
they are caught in the cycle of birth and death.

342. Those driven by craving are terrified, like a hare caught in a trap; held fast by
fetters and bonds,388 they undergo suffering389 again and again, for a very long time.

343. Those driven by craving are terrified, like a hare caught in a trap. Therefore, those
who wish to free themselves should overcome this craving.390

344. Even though he left the forest of desire for the household life and entered the grove
of the life of a Bhikkhu, he rushed recklessly back to that very forest. Behold that
man! Though free,391 he ran back into bondage.392

345. Fetters of wood, rope, or even iron, say the wise, are not as strong as selfish
attachment to wealth and family.393

346. Such fetters drag us down (to lower planes of existence) and are hard to break.394
Break them by overcoming selfish desires, and turn from the world of sensory
pleasure without a backward glance.

347. A person driven by fierce cravings is like a spider caught in its own web. Break out
of the web, and turn away from the world of sensory pleasure and sorrow.

348. If you want to reach the farther shore of existence,395 give up what is before,396
behind,397 and in between.398 Set your mind free from everything,399 and go beyond
birth and death.

388
There are five kinds of bonds (saṅga): lust (rāga), hatred (dosa), delusion (moha), pride (māna), and
false views (diṭṭhi).
389
In repeated rebirths.
390
Because beings are surrounded and entwined by craving, those who are striving for nibbāna should
dispel that craving by means of the Path of Arahatship.
391
From desire for the household life.
392
This verse was uttered about a young man who, through faith, entered the Order, but later, tempted by
sensory pleasures, returned to the household life.
393
Longing for the things of this world, such as jewels, ornaments, children, spouses, etc.
394
The bondage of defilements, once arisen due to greed, is hard to break.
395
When this is so — having gone to the farther shore (bhavassa pāragū) of the whole threefold existence
(that is, the past, the present, the future), by way of higher knowledge, full understanding, relinquishment,
meditational development and realization, living with mind liberated in regard to the totality of conditioned
existence with its divisions such as aggregates (khandhas), elements (dhātus), and spheres (āyatanas) —,
one does not come again by birth, decay, and death. That is the meaning.
396
Let go of attachment, longing, clinging, desiring, (mental) possession, obsession, grasping, craving —
with reference to the aggregates (khandhas) of the past.
397
Let go of attachment and so forth with reference to the aggregates of the future.
398
Let go of attachment and so forth with reference to the aggregates of the present.
 24. CRAVING 63

349. In those who are disturbed by deluded thoughts, whose passions are strong, and
who see only what is pleasurable, craving grows more and more. Indeed, they only
keep strengthening their fetters.

350. One who takes delight in calming thoughts, who is ever mindful, who meditates on
the loathsomeness (of the body)400 will get rid of craving. Such a one will break the
bonds of Māra.

351. Those who have reached their goal,401 who are free from fear, craving, and moral
defilements, have cut off the thorns of existence.402 This body is their last.403

352. One who is free from craving and attachment, who understands the deeper meaning
of what is written,404 is rightly called “bearer of the final body,” “one of great
wisdom,” “a great being.”

353. I have conquered myself and live in purity. I know all that there is to be known.405
I have left everything behind and live in freedom. Having comprehended the Four
Noble Truths by myself, to whom shall I point as my teacher?406

354. There is no gift better than the gift of the Dhamma, no gift more sweet, no gift more
joyful. It puts an end to cravings407 and the sorrow they bring.

355. Wealth harms those who are greedy but not those who seek the other shore.408 By
their caving for wealth, the greedy harm themselves and those around them.

356. Greed ruins the mind, just as weeds ruin fields. Therefore, honor those who are free
from greed.

357. Hatred409 ruins the mind, just as weeds ruin fields. Therefore, honor those who are
free from hatred.

399
All conditioned existence.
400
The purpose of this meditation is to get rid of attachment to this so-called “body.”
401
Arahats. Arahatship is the final goal of those who have gone forth in the monastic Order.
402
Here, “thorns” refers to the three unwholesome roots (mūla): (1) greed (lobha); (2) hatred (dosa); and
(3) delusion (moha). They have cut off the “thorns” that lead to continued existence.
403
That is, this is their final existence.
404
One who is skilled in the four kinds of analytical knowledge: (1) meaning (attha); (2) text (dhamma);
(3) etymology (nirutti); and (4) understanding (paṭibhāna).
405
Attained Arahatship.
406
The Buddha gave this answer to Upaka, a wandering ascetic, who questioned Him about His teacher.
Even though the Buddha had teachers before His Enlightenment, He had none for His Enlightenment.
407
The eradication of craving leads to the cessation of the aggregates, which means the end of rebirths.
408
Nibbāna.
409
Hatred, ill will, aversion, etc.
64 THE DHAMMAPADA

358. Ignorance ruins the mind, just as weeds ruin fields. Therefore, honor those who are
free from ignorance.

359. Selfish desire410 ruins the mind, just as weeds ruin fields. Therefore, honor those
who are free from selfish desire. ■

410
Covetousness.
 25 • The Bhikkhu 411

(Bhikkhuvagga)

360. Restrain your eyes and ears; restrain your nose and tongue. The senses are good
friends when they are restrained.

361. Restrain your body in deeds; restrain your tongue in words; restrain your mind in
thoughts. Good is restraint in everything.412 Those restrained in everything are
freed from all sorrow.413

362. He is a true Bhikkhu who has trained his hands, feet, and speech to serve others. He
meditates deeply, is at peace with himself, and lives alone.

363. He is a true Bhikkhu who is restrained in speech, who speaks softly, who is modest,
and who explains the Dhamma in sweet words.414

364. He is a true Bhikkhu who follows the Dhamma, meditates on the Dhamma, delights
in the Dhamma, and, therefore, never falls away from the Dhamma.

365. He is a true Bhikkhu who is content with what he receives and is never jealous of
others. Those who are jealous cannot do well in meditation.415

366. Even the gods praise the Bhikkhu who is contented with whatever he has and who
lives a pure life of selfless service.

367. Free from the desire to possess people and things,416 a Bhikkhu does not grieve over
what is not.417

411
Bhikkhu is exclusively a Buddhist term. “Mendicant Monk” may suggested as the best rendering in
English for Bhikkhu. Here, the term is left untranslated. The female counterpart is Bhikkhunī, usually
translated as “Nun.”
412
Sabbattha, “in every way; in every sense.”
413
Freed from suffering (dukkha); freed from cyclic existence (saṁsāra).
414
Who speaks in moderation, who is not boastful, and who patiently explains the meaning of the Dhamma.
415
Samādhi, both mundane and supramundane concentration.
416
One who has no sense of “I” or “mine” and no attachment to any part of “name-and-form” (nāma-rūpa),
that is, all the varied aspects of the human personality, occurring as the five aggregates of existence
(pañcakkhandha) — also known as the “five aggregates of clinging.” The five aggregates consist of: (1)
material form or corporeality (rūpakkhandha); (2) feeling (vedanākkhandha); (3) perception (saññā-
kkhandha); (4) (predisposing) mental formations (saṁkhārakkhandha); and (5) consciousness (viññāṇa-
kkhandha). What is called “individual existence” is, in reality, nothing but a mere process of those mental
and physical phenomena (that is, the five aggregates of existence), a process that has been going on since
immemorial time and that will also continue after death for an immemorial period of time. These five
66 THE DHAMMAPADA

368. With loving-kindness toward all418 and with confidence419 in the Buddha’s
Teachings, a Bhikkhu will reach the holy state where all is peace.420

369. Bhikkhu, bail out421 your boat! When it is bailed out, it will go faster.422 Cast out
greed and hatred, and reach nibbāna.

370. Cut off the five lower fetters,423 cut off the five higher fetters,424 cultivate the five
faculties,425 and you will cross the river of life.

371. Meditate, Bhikkhu, meditate!426 Do not be heedless! Do not run after sense
pleasures! Do not swallow a red-hot iron ball427 and then cry, “I am in great pain!”

372. There can be no concentration in those who lack wisdom, and no wisdom in those
who lack concentration. Those in whom there is both wisdom and concentration
are, indeed, close to nibbāna.428

aggregates, taken either singly or collectively, do not constitute a self-dependent real ego-entity, self (attā),
soul, or personality, nor is there to be found any such entity apart from them.
417
He does not grieve, is not tormented, when that “name-and-form” comes to decay and degeneration, but,
instead, dispassionately perceives thus: “What has decayed in me is, by its very nature, subject to decay
and to degeneration — this is simply the way it is.”
418
One who has exerted oneself in loving-kindness (mettā) as a subject of meditation (kammaṭṭhāna) as
well as one who has attained the third (according to the suttanta method) or fourth (according to the
Abhidhamma method) stage of meditative absorptions (jhānas) by developing loving-kindness. With this
practice, one extends unconditional loving-kindness to “whatever living beings there may be, without
exception, whether weak or strong; long, large, or middling; short, subtle or gross; visible or invisible;
living near or far; born or coming to birth” (Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta — Discourse on Loving-Kindness).
419
He is pleased with the Buddha’s Teachings. Indeed, he takes great delight in, relishes, rejoices in being
pleased with the Buddha’s Teachings.
420
The stilling of all conditioned things — the Tranquil, the Unconditioned, the Blissful, in short, nibbāna.
421
Bail out the ship of personality of the water of wrong thoughts — throw that water away.
422
Just as a ship on the ocean, heavy with water that has seeped in through a hole, is able to reach a harbor
quickly, without sinking, after the crew has closed up its fissures and emptied it of water, in the same way,
when, by means of restraint, one closes up the fissures of sense outlets such as the eye, this ship of one’s
personality, filled with the water of wrong thoughts, will go quickly to nibbāna without sinking in the whirl
of saṁsāra, after it has been emptied of the water of the wrong thoughts that had arisen.
423
Cut off, through the Paths of Stream-Entry (Sotāpatti-magga), Once-Return (Sakadāgāmi-magga), and
Non-Return (Anāgāmi-magga), the five lower fetters (saṁyojana) that lead one to states of woe. The five
lower fetters are: (1) personality belief; (2) skeptical doubt; (3) attachment to wrongful rites and rituals; (4)
sense-desire; and (5) hatred.
424
Abandon, relinquish, indeed, cutoff, through the Path of Arahatship (Arahatta-magga), the five higher
(more subtle) fetters that lead one to the celestial worlds above. The five higher fetters are: (6) attachment
to the form realm; (7) attachment to the formless realms; (8) conceit; (9) restlessness; and (10) ignorance.
425
The five faculties are: (1) faith or confidence (saddhā); (2) mindfulness (sati); (3) effort (viriya); (4)
concentration (samādhi); and (5) wisdom (paññā).
426
By the two kinds of meditative absorptions: (1) fine-material absorption and (2) immaterial absorption.
427
For those who are heedless and relinquish mindfulness (sati), it is as if they have swallowed a metal ball
heated in hell. One should not swallow a metal ball by being heedless. Such heedlessness will only lead to
a state of woe.
 25. THE BHIKKHU 67

373. The Bhikkhu who goes to a secluded place to meditate, whose mind is calm, who
clearly perceives the Dhamma,429 experiences a joy that transcends that of ordinary
people.

374. Whenever he reflects on the rise and fall of the aggregates that make up the body,
he experiences joy and happiness. To the wise, that is the way to the deathless.

375. For a wise Bhikkhu in this Teaching, this is the beginning of the practice leading to
nibbāna: train your senses, be contented, strictly observe the fundamental moral
code,430 and keep pure and noble friends.

376. Be a friend to all. Perform your duties well.431 Then, with your joy ever growing,
you will put an end to sorrow.

377. As the jasmine creeper sheds the withered flowers that blossomed the previous day,
so should you, O Bhikkhu, shed blemishes such as attachment to sensory pleasures
and to hatred.

378. A Bhikkhu who is calm in body,432 speech,433 and mind,434 who is well-composed,
and who has turned his back on worldly pleasures,435 is called a “peaceful one.”

379. Raise yourself by your own efforts, O Bhikkhu; be your own critic. Thus, self-
reliant and vigilant, you will live in joy.

380. Be your own master, guide, and protector. Be your own refuge. Train your mind,
as merchants train their noble horses.436

381. Full of peace and joy is the Bhikkhu who follows the Dhamma and reaches the other
shore beyond the flux of mortal life.437

428
Those who do not meditate cannot develop insight. However, those in whom both meditative absorption
and insight are developed understand and see reality as it is. Those in whom both of these exist are close to
nibbāna.
429
Who gains insight into the Dhamma by understanding cause and condition.
430
The Pātimokkha — the code of conduct consisting of 227 disciplinary rules followed by Bhikkhus in the
Theravādin tradition.
431
What is referred to here is virtuous conduct as well as skillful performance of due rites and rituals.
432
Due to the absence of violence to life, and so on, in one’s actions.
433
Due to the absence of false speech, vulgar speech, sarcasm, gossip, and idle chatter.
434
Due to the absence of craving, and so on, in one’s thoughts.
435
Literally, “who has vomited worldly pleasures.” Here, “vomited” means “given up.”
436
Ever mindful, one should restrain oneself, guard oneself, train oneself, protect oneself, by preventing
unarisen unwholesome mental states from arising, by abandoning unwholesome mental states that have
already arisen, by developing wholesome mental states that have not yet arisen, and by maintaining and
perfecting wholesome mental states that have already arisen.
437
Reaches nibbāna — the tranquil, the unconditioned, the blissful.
68 THE DHAMMAPADA

382. Though young in years, a Bhikkhu who devotes himself to the Dhamma lights up
the world, as the moon lights a cloudless sky. ■
 26 • The Brāhmaṇa 438

(Brāhmaṇavagga)

383. O brāhmaṇa, cut off the stream of craving with diligence, and abandon sense
desires. Go beyond the world of conditionality, and know the deathless ground of
life.439

384. Those brāhmaṇas who are well established in the two types of meditation440 will go
beyond likes and dislikes, and all their fetters will fall away.

385. Who is a true brāhmaṇa? That one I call a brāhmaṇa who is attached neither to the
nether shore441 nor to the farther shore,442 and who is free from moral defilements.

386. Who is a true brāhmaṇa? That one I call a brāhmaṇa who dwells in seclusion,
practicing both calm abiding and insight meditation, who is free from moral
defilements, and who has reached the supreme goal of life.443

387. The sun shines in the day; the moon shines in the night. The warrior shines in
battle; the brāhmaṇa shines in meditation. But, day and night, the Buddha shines444
in radiance of love for all.

388. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who has shed all evil. I call that one a recluse whose
mind is serene — a wanderer, whose heart is pure.

389. One should never harm a brāhmaṇa. A brāhmaṇa should never become angry and
should never cause harm to others even when harmed by them.

390. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who does not retaliate. When the intention to harm
others is brought to an end, suffering will wane.

438
In this chapter, the term brāhmaṇa is used instead of Brahmin. The term “Brahmin” refers to a member
of the priestly caste, while “brāhmaṇa” refers to a person who lives a pure, sinless, and ascetic life, which
is what is meant here. In the literature, the term brāhmaṇa is often used as a synonym for Arahat (as in
verses 294 and 295 above).
439
The unconditioned, nibbāna.
440
Calm abiding or tranquility meditation (samatha) and insight or analytical meditation (vipassanā).
441
That is, the sense bases.
442
That is, the sense objects.
443
Arahatship.
444
The Buddha outshines immorality by the power of morality, vice by the power of virtue, ignorance by
the power of wisdom, demerit by the power of merit, unrighteousness by the power of righteousness.
70 THE DHAMMAPADA

391. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who does not hurt others with unkind acts, words, or
thoughts, and who is restrained in these three aspects.

392. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who learns the Dhamma of the Fully Enlightened One
and who respectfully pays homage to the Holy One, as a Brahmin pays homage to
the sacrificial fire.

393. It is not matted hair, nor family background,445 nor caste that makes a brāhmaṇa.
Only those who have realized the Truth446 and the Dhamma447 can rightly be called
brāhmaṇas. They are the pure ones.

394. What use is matted hair, O foolish one? What use is a deerskin on which to sit for
meditation if your mind still seethes with lust?

395. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who is content with ragged robes gathered from a dust
heap, who is lean, with veins standing out,448 and who meditates alone in the forest.

396. I do not call one a brāhmaṇa just because one is born from the womb of a high
caste mother. One is merely a “bho-sayer”449 if one is not free from moral defile-
ments. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who is free from moral defilements and selfish
attachments.

397. The true brāhmaṇa has thrown off all fetters450 and does not tremble in fear.451 No
selfish bonds can ensnare such a one,452 no impure thoughts pollute the mind.

398. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who has cut through the strap (of ill will), the thong (of
craving), and the chain (of wrong views together with latent defilements), and who
has lifted the bar that fastens the door (of ignorance). Such a one has gotten up
from sleep and is fully awake.453

445
Gotta “ancestry, lineage, clan.”
446
The realization of the Four Noble Truths.
447
Here, Dhamma refers to the nine supramundane states, namely, the four Paths, the four Fruits, and
nibbāna.
448
Bhikkhus who wear rags for robes, who are thin and lean (literally, “of little flesh and blood”), and
whose veins are visible from following a rigorous practice that befits them.
449
“Bho” is a familiar form of address, which even the Buddha uses when addressing lay people. The
meaning here is that such a one merely knows proper etiquette in greeting others.
450
The ten fetters (saṁyojana) which bind beings to cyclic existence (saṁsāra): (1) personality belief —
the delusion of selfhood; (2) skeptical doubt; (3) attachment to rites and rituals; (4) desire for gratification
of the senses; (5) ill will; (6) craving for fine-material existence; (7) craving for immaterial existence; (8)
conceit; (9) restlessness; and (10) ignorance.
451
Due to craving.
452
Who has transcended attachments and gone beyond the passions, and so forth.
453
Who is awakened from having realized the Four Noble Truths (Ariya-sacca): (1) suffering (dukkha); (2)
the origin (samudaya) of suffering; (3) the cessation (nirodha) of suffering; and (4) the path or way
(magga) leading to the cessation of suffering, namely, the Noble Eightfold Path (Ariya-aṭṭhangika-magga).
 26. THE BRĀHMAṆA 71

399. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who endures abuse, beating, and imprisonment without
anger.454 Such a one has the power of patience no army can defeat.455

400. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who is free from anger, who practices austerity,456 who
is virtuous and free from craving, and who controls the senses. This body is the
last.457

401. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who does not cling to sensory pleasure, just as water
does not cling to a lotus leaf or a mustard seed to the tip of a needle.

402. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who, even in this life, realizes the end of suffering,458
who has laid down the burden,459 and who is free from moral defilements.

403. That one I call a brāhmaṇa whose wisdom is profound and whose understanding
deep, who knows the right path from the wrong path, and who has reached the
highest goal.460

404. That one I call a brāhmaṇa whose wants are few, who is detached from sensory
desire, and who associates with neither householders nor homeless mendicants.461

405. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who has put aside weapons and renounced violence
toward all creatures, the perturbed462 as well as the unperturbed.463 Such a one
neither kills nor helps others to kill.464

406. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who is never hostile to those who are hostile toward
him, who is detached465 among those who are selfish,466 and who is at peace467
among those who have taken up weapons.

454
One who bears, without anger, the abuse that is heaped upon one through the ten ways of abusing,
assault with hands, weapons, and so forth, and even being bound with fetters, and so forth.
455
Who has the strength of an army due to being endowed with the power of patience, which has been
reinforced by its springing up again and again.
456
Dhutaṅga, ascetic or austere purification practices recommended to monks by the Buddha as a means to
cultivate contentment, renunciation, energy, detachment, moderation, etc.
457
Who is in the final body, because the present life is at the termination of cyclic existence (saṁsāra).
458
Nibbāna.
459
Who has laid down the burden of the khandhas, the five aggregates of clinging.
460
Arahatship.
461
Who is not contaminated by either lay persons or homeless ones.
462
Those who are not engaged in spiritual practices, whose minds are restless and senses undisciplined.
463
Those whose minds are calm and senses controlled — Arahats.
464
One who has laid down arms in regard to all sentient beings, by virtue of hatred having been destroyed,
and who never kills any living thing oneself, or who never helps others to kill.
465
Who is free of grasping at “I,” “me,” or “mine.”
466
Those who grasp at a sense of self.
467
Due to having laid aside the use of force.
72 THE DHAMMAPADA

407. That one I call a brāhmaṇa from whom passion and hatred, along with arrogance
and deceit, have fallen away, like a mustard seed that has fallen from the point of a
needle.

408. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who speaks gentle, instructive,468 and true words, and
who does not offend anyone by his speech.

409. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who, here in this world, takes nothing that is not given,
whether long or short, small or great, pleasant or unpleasant.

410. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who has no desire either for anything of this world or
for anything of the next, and who is free from craving and moral defilements.

411. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who is free from craving, who, through knowledge of
the Four Noble Truths, is free from doubt, and who has realized the deathless.469

412. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who, in this world, has gone beyond good and evil,470
who is free from sorrow, and who, being free from the taints of moral defilements,
is pure.

413. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who is pure,471 clear,472 serene,473 and unagitated,474 and
in whom craving for existence has come to an end. Such a one shines like the moon
in a cloudless sky.

414. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who, having crossed the dangerous swamp (of passion),
the difficult road (of moral defilements), the ocean of life,475 the darkness of
ignorance,476 and the fourfold flood,477 has reached the other shore. Such a one
practices both calm abiding and insight meditation, is free from craving and doubt,
clings to nothing, and remains in perfect peace.

415. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who, in this world, has given up attachment to sense
pleasures and who, having left the life of a householder, has become a Bhikkhu.
Such a one has eradicated sense desires and has come to the end of existence.

468
Causing others to understand what is right, proper, virtuous, wholesome, true, etc.
469
Nibbāna.
470
Who has discarded both wholesome and unwholesome states of mind.
471
Free of moral impurities.
472
Stainless.
473
Of calm mind.
474
Free of defilements — in whom there is not the agitation of defilements.
475
Saṁsāra.
476
“Ignorance” means not having realized the Four Noble Truths.
477
Ogha, “flood” refers here to the āsavas, “cankers.” The four āsavas are: (1) the canker of sense desire
(kāmāsava); (2) the canker of desiring eternal existence (bhavāsava); (3) the canker of wrong views
(diṭṭhāsava); and (4) the canker of ignorance (avijjāsava).
 26. THE BRĀHMAṆA 73

416. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who, in this world, has given up craving and who,
having left the life of a householder, has become a Bhikkhu. Such a one has
eradicated craving and has come to the end of existence.

417. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who has given up attachment to the sense pleasures of
human life, who has transcended attachment to the sense pleasures of celestial life,
and who is completely free from attachment.

418. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who no longer takes delight in sense pleasures but,
rather, takes delight in solitude. Such a one has attained perfect peace, is free from
moral defilements, has overcome the five aggregates of existence, and is diligent.

419. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who knows the passing away and rebirth of beings, in
every detail, who is detached, who is well-gone,478 and who is enlightened.479

420. That one I call a brāhmaṇa whose destination no one can know. Such a one has
eradicated moral defilements and is an Arahat.

421. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who does not cling to the aggregates of the past, future,
and present and who is free from moral defilements and attachment.

422. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who is fearless like a bull, who is noble and diligent,
who strives for high moral virtues, who has conquered Māra, who is free from
craving, who has been cleansed of moral defilements, and who knows the Four
Noble Truths.

423. That one I call a brāhmaṇa who knows past existences, who sees both the celestial
and the lower worlds, who has reached the end of rebirths, and who, with Path
Insight, has become an Arahat — one who has accomplished all that had to be
accomplished for the eradication of moral defilements. ■

478
Sugata, gone to nibbāna.
479
Due to understanding the Four Noble Truths.